The Frightening Fortress
by Gamemaker97
Summary: Violet and Klaus Baudelaire find themselves alone in the Hinterlands, with their family scattered across the country and a mysterious organisation called V.F.D. searching for them. With everything else falling apart, can the Baudelaires find their place in this new society and bring their family back together? AU.
1. Chapter One

**(Serious) Author's Note: This is the second story in a Series of _Alternate_ Events, and is the sequel to another of my stories, 'The Sinister Schism'. Although it is not 100% necessary, I'd reccomend reading that first before this story.**

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_(Fictional) Author's Note: Dear reader,_

_I am writing to notify you that the story you are now reading is very unpleasant. The Baudelaire children, who this story concerns, are not unpleasant themselves. They are intelligent and resourceful children, but their lives are plagued with misery and woe._

_For instance, within this story the Baudelaires will face many unpleasantries, including a notorious villain, a terrifying castle, torrential rain, a late arrival and the loss of a friend._

_I may have devoted myself to chronicling these tragic tales, but you have not yet devoted yourself to learning of them. It is not too late to abandon this and read something more upbeat, if you prefer such things._

_With all due respect,_

_A.T._

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**Chapter One**

The word "blade" is a very interesting word. A homophone, to be exact, which is a word that sounds the same but has two different meanings.

One of these meanings, almost everyone knows; a sharp tool, usually metal, used in knives and other cutting instruments. This type of blade can be useful in a variety of ways, as it could possibly be used to slice up celery to put in a salad, or as a makeshift can opener, or in the eyes of an evil person such as the notorious Count Olaf, a blade could be used as a weapon.

However, the word "blade" has another meaning, and that refers to a place; the Blade. The Blade (or Blade Ridge, as it is sometimes known) lies fifty miles north of the city in the low hills, not too far from the town of Tedia. From past experience, I can conclusively tell you that Blade Ridge is not a nice place to visit. It is exactly as it suggests, a high, narrow - and I mean very, very narrow - ridge that descends out of the hills and around Bladeridge Castle, a fortification that has sprung up there in recent centuries. Like Blade Ridge itself, the castle is not a pleasant place to visit, with a dark, gloomy courtyard and menacing towers. It always leaves you with a feeling that you're being watched...

But, I digress. I must warn that both meanings of the word "blade" come up frequently throughout this story, especially when describing what a certain blade does when it the wrong hands at Bladeridge Castle. So I must warn that this story is neither pleasant nor happy at the start or the end, and there are very few pleasant or happy things that happen in the middle. It saddens me to tell you this, but that is how the story goes.

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Sunny was frightened.

She woke again in the same cold, damp room that she had awoken in since surviving the cold waters of the Stricken Stream. The room was made of roughly cut stone, but the walls were old and damp and Sunny could see green patches where moss had grown into the walls. All in all, it wasn't a very pleasant place to be.

The room had no windows, only a couple of wooden torches fixed onto the thick stone walls, casting a soft yellow-orange light across the room. There was minimal furniture, too; merely a hard wooden bunk that Sunny's mother was sleeping on, and the bale of hay that Sunny had been forced to use as a mattress. Aside from that, the room was cold, bare and entirely miserable.

Sunny turned her attention from the room (nothing had changed since she'd arrived there, after all) to her mother, who had been her only companion during the last miserable fortnight. She was, of course, too young to understand what was going on exactly, being only an infant of two years, but she could tell that something was wrong.

Her mother lay sleeping fitfully - a word which here means "not at all comfortably" - on the wooden bunk, tossing and turning as though she was having a nightmare. The problem for Mrs Baudelaire was that when she woke that morning, she was still living in a nightmare. She was trapped with her youngest daughter Sunny, with no idea where they were and no idea whether their family were still alive or not. She didn't even know where she was. All she did know was that she and her daughter were entirely at the mercy of another.

That person soon ended up opening the thick wooden door into the Baudelaires' prison cell (as they had become used to calling it), waking Mrs Baudelaire and grabbing the attention of both the cell's occupants instantly.

The man who had walked into the room was a man in his mid-late forties, with a tall, slender figure, white hair and a goatee beard. He also sported a single, long eyebrow above his shiny eyes and had a tattoo of the V.F.D. insignia, the eye, on his left ankle. He was dressed scruffily in what may have once been formal clothing, and held a slender, curved knife in his right hand. The blade shone menacingly in the light of the room.

"I have news for you, Beatrice," Olaf snarled, beckoning for the Baudelaires to follow him, keeping the blade between the prisoner and the captor.

* * *

_Date: August 19th_

_Time: Morning (I don't have a watch)_

_Sitrep: I don't really know why I'm doing this, if I'm honest. Klaus said that it helped him when trapped in the Firestarter base to write down his thoughts in his commonplace book, so I told him I'd give it a go. I guess this is a bit like a diary entry, really. I don't really know how to start this, but here goes._

_My name is Violet Baudelaire._

_I am fourteen years old._

_And I'm a girl with no idea what to do._

_It's been three weeks since the fire that destroyed our home in the city. Since then, I've been from place to place, trying to get by after that fateful day. Not only did I lose my home to fire, but my parents and Sunny to the evil Count Olaf. Thankfully I now know that father is safe; well, safe-ish. He's badly injured, but in safe hands in the Mortmain Mountains. As for mother and Sunny, well, I really don't know. Olaf had them in his clutches after he confronted us on the day of the fire, and I doubt he'll have let them out of his sight since then._

_On the plus side, at least I still have Klaus. My twelve-year-old brother and I might not always have been best of friends, but we are close enough to stand by each other in the face of adversity, as we have done this past week. I hope that-_

Violet Baudelaire, the eldest of the three Baudelaire siblings, paused for a moment as she was met by her brother outside the tent that they had slept in the previous night. They were alone in the Hinterlands; a vast, flat, dusty desert where nothing grows and nobody lives. There is just miles and miles of nothingness.

Violet and Klaus had been travelling into the north to the Mortmain Mountains, where they hoped to be reunited with their injured father once more. Apparently, the Baudelaire parents had been involved in a secret organisation known as V.F.D. before the children had been born, and a confrontation (or schism, as it was often called) had split the organisation in half. Now, members of the opposing side had tried to hunt down the Baudelaires, such as Count Olaf, who I'm sorry to say had done rather a good job of it.

Following a confrontation with Olaf and his henchmen, the two elder Baudelaire siblings had been on their way to the Mortmain Mountains with another V.F.D. member, Jacques Snicket, before the helicopter was shot down.

To cut a long story short, two days had passed since the crash and the Baudelaires were yet to move out from the wreckage.

"Hello Violet," Klaus said, coming to sit outside the tent with his elder sister. "Are you alright?"

"I guess so," Violet shrugged. "I mean, apart from the fact that we're all alone in a desolate landscape with no idea where to go next, I think I'm alright."

"We have some ideas," Klaus said helpfully.

"I know," his sister replied, looking out into the endless nothing of the Hinterlands. "Maybe we should head back towards the Verdant Valley, and explain to Daniel Thursday, the man in charge of the V.F.D. base there, that we failed to get to the Mortmain Mountains."

"What good would that do?" called a third voice from inside the Baudelaires' tent, a voice that belonged to fifteen-year-old Arlo Thursday.

Arlo was a recent travelling companion of the elder Baudelaire siblings, who had become their friends when Violet and Klaus took refuge in the Verdant Valley after escaping the clutches of Count Olaf, unlike their unfortunate relatives, who had been injured or captured by the evil man. Like Violet, Arlo had a quick inventing mind, and the two had spent much of the last two weeks working together on a project of Arlo's, becoming close friends in the process. He'd offered to join the Baudelaires on their journey to meet their father in the Mortmain Mountains.

"You two were the ones who wanted to get to the Mortmains," Arlo said, coming out to join his friends, taking care to brush his long black hair from in front of his eyes as he sat down next to Violet on the opposite side to Klaus. "And your father's waiting for you there. It's not too far away, either. We're at least two thirds of the way there already. All we need to do now is follow round the base of the mountains until we reach the Stricken Stream, which we follow until we reach the base in the Valley of Four Drafts. It'll take us two days. Maybe three at most."

The three children looked at the Mortmain Mountains, as the first foothills rose from the flatland a mile north of them.

"What about mother and Sunny?" Klaus asked, feeling worried for his family. "We still need to find them, too."

"But we have no idea where they are," Violet said frustratedly.

"I do," Klaus said, making Violet suddenly feel excited that Klaus had somehow learned something new. "I overheard a man talking in the Firestarter base, saying that they are being held in Bladeridge Castle."

"Bladeridge Castle?" Arlo said. "I've never heard of it."

"Neither have I," Klaus said glumly, which surprised both his sister and his friend. They knew that Klaus was extremely interested in reading up about lots of different things, so it surprised them that Klaus hadn't ever heard of this castle from either an encyclopaedia or an atlas.

"Maybe someone at the V.F.D. Headquarters in the Mortmain Mountains will know," Violet mused. "I guess we'll need to head there first to find out."

"I suppose you're right," Klaus agreed.

"Well then," said Arlo, brushing the dust from his shorts as he stood up. "We'd better get ourselves sorted out. We've got a long journey ahead of us, so there's no time to waste."

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**(Serious) Author's Note: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! I'd like to know what you all think :)**


	2. Chapter Two

**(Serious) Author's Note: Thanks to krikanalo ,Theonewhoweaveswords, Don't Leave me Hanging and 08knighte (guest) for reviewing the last chapter! I appreciate the support :)**

**I also apologise for the lack of updates in the last week. I've been on holiday, and there's been no internet connection, so I haven't been able to update :/**

**However, I have still been writing this week, so I'm posting six chapters tonight (Chapters 2-7). Hopefully that'll make up for the lack of updates during this week :)**

**This story has a slower build-up that its predecessor, but I hope you still enjoy the opening chapters :)**

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**Chapter Two**

Klaus was tired.

The afternoon had turned to evening as the three children reached the cold, menacing waters of the Stricken Stream. At this stage of their journey, the land around the river had become to climb as the trio walked upstream through the foothills of the Mortmain Mountains. It may have been August, but there was a definite shift in climate, with the air around them feeling colder by the minute. Of course, this was partially due to the onset of night, but this was also caused by the increasing altitude as the children steadily climbed into the twilight. Even Arlo (who usually lived shirtless in the temperate climates of the Verdant Valley and the Hinterlands) had to put on a jumper as the three children finally stopped for the night in the almost complete darkness.

"We need to get our tent up," Arlo said quickly as he sat down to rest at the end of their travels for that day. They were in a small valley, with low hills rising on both sides of the river. Ahead, the towering square-topped peak of Mount Fraught - the summit of the mountain range - loomed over the horizon ominously.

However Violet had no time for the view as she started to assemble the small tent with Klaus. Unfortunately, she quickly ran into a problem.

"We haven't got any guy ropes to hold the tent down," Violet complained. "I used them earlier today when I invented that grappling hook."

"That doesn't matter too much," replied Arlo, who was rummaging through his rucksack. "We're sheltered from most of the wind by these hills, but if you want to be on the safe side, use large stones from the riverbed to weigh down the four corners of the tent."

Violet nodded, but Arlo didn't see her response (he was busy himself). Violet walked the short distance to the Stricken Stream, which was only twenty yards away due to the narrow valley that they were in. There, she collected several large stones, and called for Klaus to assist her in carrying the heavier ones back to the tent, which lay half-constructed near Arlo.

Arlo hadn't been constructing any more of the tent, as he had been busy retrieving some small, green tubes from his rucksack, which he had now lit with his matches. The tubes belched a great deal of dark green smoke into the air and gave off a terrible smell as Violet returned to the tent.

"Why have you lit the Verdant Flammable Devices?" she asked Arlo, dropping her rocks at her feet as Klaus continued to construct the tent.

"To keep away the snow gnats," he replied casually.

"Snow gnats?"

"Snow gnats," explained Klaus, who was never too tired to explain anything. "Are ill-tempered insects who enjoy stinging people for no reason whatsoever. If I remember correctly, the smell of smoke drives them away."

Arlo nodded to this, smiling.

"That's why we're using the Verdant Flammable Devices," he clarified.

"Well, now that you've sorted that, you can help us with the tent," Violet said, and Arlo had little choice but to help.

The evening passed slowly as the three children talked the night away in their tent by the river, and Violet, Klaus and Arlo felt refreshed when they rose early the next day to clear morning skies as they continued their hike into the mountains. With the Verdant Flammable Devices keeping the snow gnats away, the walk was almost pleasant as they walked along the banks of the Stricken Stream as it meandered uphill, a phrase which here means "wound through the mountains towards Mount Fraught." In the increasing altitude the temperatures became cool as the children climbed to walk a higher route by the river, on the sides of the steeper mountains that now lined the valley. It was summer, so there was still not snow, but the children found themselves reaching for their coats as they trudged round yet another bend in the river on the way to the V.F.D. Headquarters.

Eventually they decided to set up camp on the plateaued summit of one of the peaks deep in the mountain range. At this altitude, there was a light dusting of snow, and the children could look down over the steep sides of the mountain to the Stricken Stream weaving its way past them five hundred feet below. Not too far away was Mount Fraught, towering over the natural skyline. Klaus estimated that it was less than five miles away. Because he knew that the source of the Stricken Stream was on Mount Fraught and that the V.F.D. Headquarters were located by the Stricken Stream, he thought that their journey would be complete the following day. He stood alone on the summit of the mountain (Violet and Arlo had already retired to the shelter of their tent), staring out at the Mortmain Mountains, wondering what he would be greeted with when he arrived. Arlo knew what was waiting for them, as he had visited the Headquarters two years before, but neither Klaus nor Violet had ever seem the Mortmain Mountains until the previous day.

Quickly, Klaus' thoughts turned to his father, who he hadn't seen for several weeks. The last time he'd seen his father, it'd been on the day his home burned down, for reasons that he still didn't understand. Escaping the villainous Count Olaf in a car chase, his mother had tried a daring manoeuvre, resulting in the vehicle (and, unfortunately, its passengers) being dumped into the cold waters of the Stricken Stream. He hadn't seen his father since then, but he'd heard his parent's cries of pain as he had been carried downstream away from him, and knew that one of Count Olaf's harpoons had struck its target. He hoped that his father was recovering well. At least his worst fears hadn't been realised. He would be able to speak to his father again.

And with that reassuring thought, Klaus joined his sibling and her friend in the tent, welcoming the deep sleep that followed.

When the sun rose over the Mortmain Mountains the next day, the square-topped peaks had been covered in a light frost, which made the ground slippery underfoot, hindering Violet, Klaus and Arlo as they packed up their tent that morning and clambered down the mountainside towards the Stricken Stream, where their journey would continue.

The three children found the remainder of their journey to pass quickly, as before noon the narrow river valley had opened out into a larger space, that left all three children breathless. Of course, this wasn't due to the exertion that it had taken to reach the Valley of Four Draughts, but due to the picturesque landscape of their surroundings.  
It was a large, wide and predominantly flat valley, with the Stricken Stream winding through dusty ground for about half a mile until reaching a lake, half-covered in a misty spray from the waterfall that fell into it. The Baudelaires' eyes worked their way up the body of water until they realised that the waterfall, which glistened elegantly in the midday sun, came directly from the snow-capped summit of Mount Fraught. Around the valley, winds whistled as they came through, almost blowing the children off of their feet. It was called the Valley of Four Draughts for a reason, after all.

Eventually, Arlo brought the Baudelaire siblings back to their senses by gesturing towards a faint black outline behind the spray of the waterfall.

"That's the Headquarters," he said, smiling. "It's obscured from view by the spray from the waterfall, so it's difficult to see from this distance."

"At least you know what you're looking for," Klaus said, copying Arlo's smile.

The walk towards the lake took less than fifteen minutes, by which point the Baudelaires could make out the building much more clearly. Most of it was only one storey high, extending to two in a few places, and in one case, three. It seemed to expand out over an endless distance, as though the Headquarters took up the whole valley, which made it seem even more important to Violet. For the first time since the fire that claimed her home, Violet felt as though this place could become a permanent home. For the first time since escaping the clutches of Count Olaf, Klaus felt as though maybe some of his questions might finally get answered, and he would understand his parents' role in this strange and secret organisation.

Once the building was clearly within sight, the three children stopped for a moment, taking in the sight of the wonderful building in front of them.

"How do we get in?" Violet asked finally, breaking the silence.

"Through the front door, of course," Arlo replied, wearing his foolish smile once more, and strode towards a pair of large wooden doors near the lakeside.

Now, dear reader, you may expect that a secret headquarters in the middle of a desolately remote, or vice versa, mountain range would have a secret, unexpected entrance, and, to a degree, this was true; the entrance to the V.F.D. Headquarters was through the front door, the last place that any villain attempting to infiltrate the building would check.

And so, as Arlo rang the doorbell at the large front door of the headquarters, Violet wondered whether the three of them were in the right place after all. However, she quickly realised that they were in the right place, as the door swing open, and a tall, skinny man with black hair peered round the door towards the three children. He seemed to recognise the Baudelaires, which surprised Violet and Klaus, as they had never seen this man before, but he raised an eyebrow when he noticed Arlo standing beside them.

"Hello, Dewey," Arlo said smiling. "The Baudelaires are here to see their father."  
Despite the fact that the man behind the door, Dewey, recognised the children, he still seemed reluctant to open the door to them, so that he wasn't letting an imposter into V.F.D.'s most important safe place.

"I had heard word that Jacques was escorting you here," Dewey said, concerned and quite confused.

"He was," Arlo explained. "But Firestarters shot us down. I believe Jacques was transporting something for you, but he had to escape from the wreck with it into the Hinterlands. We haven't seen him since."

"Oh," Dewey said, giving Arlo a knowing smile, which seemed odd to the Baudelaires. "I didn't realise this was a sad occasion."

"The world is quiet here," Arlo shrugged, still smiling through his long hair that had blown over his face, and Dewey's guard suddenly seemed to drop as he opened the door more fully so that Violet and Klaus could look along the hallway that he stood in. Then the tall man turned back to call down the hallway.

"Kit!"

There was a woman's reply but it was indiscernible to the children over the sound of the waterfall behind them.

"Send word to the hospital wing," Dewey called again. "Tell Bertrand that his children are here to see him!" Then Dewey turned back to face the three children standing on the doorstep, and all of them saw that he was now smiling.

"You'd better come in, Baudelaires," he said, and he led the three children into the V.F.D. Headquarters.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Violet was fascinated.

The man that Arlo had called Dewey - Dewey Denouement, he had explained to Violet - was leading the three children through the corridors of the V.F.D. Headquarters towards what he called the main hall. Violet looked around as she passed a variety of rooms, from classrooms to kitchens, and from dormitories to observatories. From these rooms, she saw an assortment of people, from young children to adults older than her parents. All of them seemed to be friendly, and gave big smiles as she walked past with Dewey, Klaus and Arlo. Whether that was because of who they were or who Dewey was, she didn't know.

Before long, Dewey Denouement had led the three children into a larger hall at the centre of the building. There was a long table that ran down the centre of the room, and there were at least a dozen doors that all led off to different parts of the Headquarters. A few people were sitting down at the table, but Violet found none of them to be recognisable.

"V.F.D. is a communist society," Dewey explained to Violet and Klaus as they arrived. "There is no actual leader. Long-serving members of the organisation form the council who make our decisions. Currently, the council is of forty-eight members, but not all of them are always here. Often, many of our number are away on important missions. This hall serves as our council room." He paused for a moment, making sure that the two Baudelaire children had understood him. "Today, we're holding a council meeting to decide what should be done with you three now that you're here, and how we should go about finding Jacques Snicket, who was carrying an important file that I have need of."

"When will we be meeting our father again?" Klaus asked curiously, not entirely sure where his parent was within the Headquarters.

"He'll be attending the council meeting," Dewey replied. "Few of us have served this organisation longer than Bertrand."

"Is he well?" Violet asked, remembering once again Count Olaf's associate firing a harpoon into the Stricken Stream, and hearing her father's screams echo out over the Hinterlands.

"He's improving," Dewey replied, which is a vague answer, although a positive one, so Violet chose not to pursue matters further.

More people were filing into the hall and filling up the seats at the table. Although they were all new faces to the Baudelaires, Arlo recognised many of them, either from his previous visit to the Headquarters or from them stopping at his home, the small V.F.D. Base in the Verdant Valley that his father ran. He knew many of them by name; Montgomery Montgomery, Mr C.M. Kornbluth, Olivia Caliban. Others, he merely knew by sight, but he still found their faces reassuring.

Finally, when the influx - a word which here means "stream of people entering the council hall" - had slowed, one last person entered the room. It was a short, blonde-haired woman who wore glasses, and she came running over towards the three children, smiling. However, she quickly found herself in the arms of Dewey Denouement, who introduced her to the children as Kit Snicket.

"You're Jacques' sister?" Klaus asked once she was introduced, which was a stupid question, considering he already knew the answer.

"He's my twin," Kit replied, smiling. "I believe you were travelling with him on your way here."

"Yes," Klaus said. "We were, but-"

"When will our father arrive?" Violet asked Kit, interrupting her brother before he said anything inappropriate. Violet had no idea whether she knew that Jacques had gone missing after his helicopter was shot down.

"He'll be along soon," Kit replied confidently, and I'm pleased to say that she was right. Soon two important-looking women in white overalls came rushing in along with a gurney, which is a type of mobile bed often used to transport patients around hospitals. On this day, the patient in the bed was the weathered figure of the Baudelaires' father.  
"Father!" both Violet and Klaus shouted at the same time, and ran over to their parent, overjoyed. Neither sibling had known what to expect when they had arrived at the Headquarters, and they were pleased with their father's condition. He wasn't anywhere near full fitness, as he was still confined to a hospital bed, but he wasn't in a life-threatening condition as the Baudelaires had feared. He looked tired and low on energy, and he had layers of bandages around his torso. His face was unshaven, which seemed odd to Violet and Klaus, as they had known their father to shave every morning for as long as they could remember. But despite what life had thrown at him, Bertrand Baudelaire seemed happy, and that was enough for his children.

"Are you alright?" was the first question asked, but surprisingly it was the father doing the asking, and the children doing the answering.

"Yes, we're fine," Klaus answered, smiling down at his father. "We've had a rough ride, but we're alright."

"I wish the same could be said for mother and Sunny," Violet said sadly.

"Listen here," Mr. Baudelaire said confidently. "The organisation are doing everything within their power to find Beatrice and Sunny. There's no reason to worry."

"Have they found them yet?" Violet asked. "Because Klaus knows where they are."

"Really?" Kit Snicket said, who had followed the Baudelaires over to their father. "How did you find this out?"

"When I was captured by the Firestarters," Klaus replied. "After Jacques' helicopter crashed."

"Jacques crashed?" Apparently Kit hadn't heard of her twin's fate.

"Yes," Klaus nodded. "He survived, and left the helicopter behind. We don't know where he went, but we know that he has the Snicket File."

"What's the Snicket File?" Violet asked, but nobody answered her.

"How do you know about that?" Kit asked Klaus. She appeared very concerned.

"A man asked me if I knew where it was, when the Firestarters caught me."

"What was he like?" Kit asked.

"He was bald," Klaus said. "But he had a beard. And he spoke in a hoarse, scratchy voice. Who is he?"

"We do not speak of his name," Kit said. "He is a very treacherous man. One of the first defectors at the start of the schism. You are very lucky to have escaped, Klaus. Few others can boat of escaping the man with a beard but no hair."

"It wasn't really due to me that I escaped," Klaus admitted. "If it wasn't for Violet and Arlo, I'd still be stuck there."

"Then all of you have already risked your lives for our organisation. That is more than I could possibly ask of you three, so young and so brave," Kit smiled. "I trust that you wish to become members of V.F.D., Baudelaires?"  
For a moment, Violet and Klaus paused, unsure of themselves. If their parents had wanted them to become involved, then surely they would have told their children about V.F.D.? But they hadn't been told, and they were involved anyway. With two members of their family missing due to the schism in V.F.D., Violet and Klaus felt as though thrived to play a part. And anyway, they were now responsible young adults, and they no longer needed the parental protection that was needed five years before. At fourteen and twelve, Violet and Klaus were nowhere near adults, but they could look after themselves, and make their own decisions.

"Of course we do," they replied together confidently, and Kit's smile grew broader.

"I hope you take after your parents, Baudelaires," she said, still clinging to Dewey. "They are among the most noble of us."

Violet opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off when a bell rang out loudly across the Headquarters. She guessed that it was nearby, as she had to put her hands to her ears to protect them from the loud noise, as did Klaus and Arlo, but the other V.F.D. members didn't really react to the noise. Violet assumed that they were used to it.

"Well, that signals the start of the council meeting," Kit explained. "Come with me, children."

Kit Snicket led the three children to the long table at the centre of the hall, and Violet couldn't help but feel anxious.  
After all, the future of her brother and herself would be decided by the men and women around this table.


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Klaus was anxious.

Just like his elder sister, he was worried about the verdict of the council. As much as he wanted to play a part in finding his mother and younger sister, he had no idea what V.F.D. would do with him while the search continued, or what he would do when the organisation decided to take action. He just hoped that life would take a turn for the better, using a phrase which here means "Beatrice and Sunny would be rescued, and the Baudelaire family would have a happy reunion."

Violet's thoughts mirrored those of her younger brother, as she hoped that the assortment of people gathered at the table would help her in every way possible. There were twenty-two of the forty-eight council members present, which meant that including the three children, twenty-five people were at the table; twelve down each side, and Kit Snicket at one end, organising the meeting. Violet sat between her father and Klaus at the opposite end of the table to Kit, with Arlo sitting on the far side of Klaus.

Unfortunately, I must say that while the Baudelaire siblings sat at the table waiting for the meeting to start, they were yet to feel welcomed into the organisation. Although a few kind members smiled at the two children, who were feeling unusually shy that afternoon, others stared at them, as one often does when encountering a new, unfamiliar person in a familiar place. A few, however, simply appeared to be standoffish, a word which is used here to describe how they showed no interest in the Baudelaires whatsoever. Of course, having not received any introduction to these people, Violet and Klaus did not expect an overly friendly welcome, and they were relieved when Kit Snicket spoke up to begin the meeting.

"Fellow volunteers," she said grandly, attracting the attention of everyone in the room. "A meeting has been called today due to the arrival of Arlo Thursday and the Baudelaire siblings from the Verdant Valley." This caused Violet to blush as all the heads in the room turned to face her, making her feel even more shy. "They were travelling with my brother Jacques," Kit continued, "when their helicopter was shot down by Firestarters near their base at the edge of the Mortmains." This sent murmurs around the table as images of the attack sprung up in the minds of the volunteers around the table, and painful memories of the attack sprung up in the minds of the children.

"What happened to Jacques?" asked one volunteer, who was concerned to for Kit's brother.

"He survived," she replied sadly, "but he is missing. Luckily, the Snicket File is still in his possession." This revelation seemed to cheer many of the volunteers in the room. Violet and Klaus didn't know what the Snicket File exactly was, but they knew that it was important to the volunteers. They presumed that it had something to do with the Snicket family, and that it contained important information about their past that couldn't be allowed to fall into the hands of the opposing side of the V.F.D. schism, the Firestarters.

"What happened to the children?" a short, chubby man asked indirectly.

However, both Violet and Klaus found themselves to be even more shy when all the heads turned their way once again, and instead Kit Snicket answered the man's question.

"To the best of my knowledge," Kit replied. "They were captured by members of the fire-starting side, and taken to their base, where they were interrogated by the man with a beard but no hair." This caused more gasps around the table, and many volunteers looked at the Baudelaires once more, their faces full of pity. "Along with Arlo, the Baudelaires managed to escape his clutches, and find their way to us without Jacques."

Kit finished explaining the situation to the other council members, all of whom seemed to be at least thirty-five years old, and Violet, Klaus and Arlo knew that the story hadn't been entirely truthful, but had been close enough to convey the situation to the other members of V.F.D.

"They've shown tremendous belief in our cause in their actions," one elderly woman said. "They should receive citations for bravery."

"Hear, hear," said another, which was a way of showing agreement.

The Baudelaires felt honoured by the words of the council, but they didn't want citations for bravery, which are really nothing more than a slip of paper saying that you have shown courage or bravery in a certain situation, and have no real worth. What the Baudelaires wanted was for their family to be reunited.

"We appreciate your kindness," Violet said politely, overcoming her shyness. "But can we concentrate on the task at hand? It's Sunny and my mother that need attention, not us."

"Well said, Violet," another man agreed, who Arlo recognised as Dewey Denouement's identical brother, Frank. He only knew this as Dewey was sat with Kit Snicket at the other end of the table, his hand in hers.

"Well, I believe we may have a lead on this case," Kit said, using a phrase that implied that vital evidence had come to light. "Klaus has learned of the location of Beatrice and Sunny Baudelaire." This knowledge caused murmurs and raised eyebrows around the table, and eventually everyone's gaze was averted to Klaus, who took the opportunity to speak up.

"The bearded man said that they were being kept at Bladeridge Castle," he said helpfully, which again caused murmurs around the table. "However, I have no idea where that is. I've never even heard of it," he admitted sadly.

"I have," chirped up the chubby, red-faced man. "I don't live far from it. It must be thirty miles from our horseradish factory on Lousy Lane."

"Excellent!" said another important-looking man, who none of the children recognised. "Should we dispatch agents to the area?"

"Yes!" Klaus said eagerly, pleased that action was being taken. "Can't we send someone to kidnap them back?" he asked, although almost immediately he knew that he had said the wrong thing.

"We shouldn't rush in, Baudelaire," another woman said, who Arlo knew as Olivia Caliban.

"That's right," another agreed. "We should only engage in violence as a last resort. It is a villainous thing to do." This caused the hearts of both Baudelaire siblings to sink, as they realised that it would be near impossible to break into a castle and retrieve their two relatives without violence. A peaceful approach would take more time.

"I suggest that we send a reconaissance team," said Kit decisively, using a fancy word for "spies". "Then we will know what we are up against."

"Yes, yes, that sounds like a plan," agreed Dewey, who had been silent until that point.

"I'll arrange for diLustro and her apprentice to take a look at it," another elderly man said. "She'll know what to do."

"Good idea," Kit agreed. "Now children, seeing as we have a plan of action ready, please feel free to leave the meeting. We have other matters left to discuss." Neither Violet, Klaus nor Arlo left the table. The volunteers' plan was better than nothing, but none of the children were happy with it. They thought that it would take too long. It was flawed. But they didn't say so when Kit Snicket indirectly asked them to leave. Instead, they had another important matter on their minds.

"Where do we go to?" Violet asked worriedly, causing Kit to frown for a minute until she understood Violet's question.

"I trust that you and your brother want to become volunteers?" she asked Violet.

"Of course," Violet replied. "But we know little of the organisation."

"That doesn't matter," Kit said. "All neophytes - trainee volunteers - have to go through standard V.F.D. training, which you will complete in the following weeks and months, while us adults find a way to get your mother and sister back." Violet didn't add that she hoped her family would be found in days not months as Kit continued. "The first stage of training is usually completed between the ages of eight and twelve. I'm sure that the course will be completed quickly, due to your age." This time, Klaus tried to mention that he was only twelve years old himself, but Kit continued once more. "Training consists of learning many core skills, such as disguise training and the like, and also one area of your interest. I'll leave it up to you to decide that at a later date," she said to the Baudelaires, before turning to Arlo.

"I assume that you have completed the first stage of V.F.D. training, Thursday?" Kit asked him.

"Yes," Arlo replied bluntly, speaking out for the first time in the meeting. His father, a V.F.D. member himself, had trained Arlo in the basic skills at home in the Verdant Valley.

"What was your specialised area?" Kit asked formally.

"Applied physics," Arlo answered calmly. "More specifically, fluid dynamics and the laws of flight."

"I take if that you passed your courses?"

"Of course," Arlo said, wearing his trademark cocky smile.

"Then you shall move onto the second stage of V.F.D. training," Kit Snicket concluded. "Dewey, please escort these children to the training area."

Without saying a word, Dewey Denouement stood up from the table and led the three children away from the council hall towards their new lives as volunteers.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

Violet was excited.

She was following Dewey Denouement through the corridors of the V.F.D. Headquarters towards what Kit Snicket had called the training area. It surprised her when she ended up stopping at a door labelled _D. Denouement_, which Dewey opened, ushering the children inside.

Violet, Klaus and Arlo found themselves in a small office. There was an oak desk in the centre of the room, with four wooden chairs; three on one side, one on the other. There was a bookshelf by the window on the white wall behind the desk, which gave a breathtaking view out onto the lake at the foot of the waterfall. The room may have been rather small, but it was very pleasant indeed.

"Please take a seat," said Dewey Denouement, gesturing to the three seats by the desk, which the children sat in gracefully. He then closed the door quietly and sat opposite them in the chair by the window, brushing aside some of the papers on his clustered desk to make room to rest his arms.

"Now, children," he said authoritatively, speaking more like a parent than a friend. "We need to work out what to do with you." This put Violet at edge slightly, as even though Dewey had meant nothing threatening, his choice of words left much to the imagination. She pushed her uncertainties aside as Dewey continued his explanation. "As Kit previously explained, you will learn all the core V.F.D. skills that we need in our organisation, but you will also take classes in one topic of your choice. This could be anything from applied physics," - Dewey paused for a moment, gesturing to Arlo, who merely nodded as a reply - "to carpentry to analytical research, which was my own area of expertise. As I don't know either of you very well, Baudelaires, I can't offer much guidance in this. Tell me, what interests do you have?"

"Well, I'm a keen inventor, like Arlo," Violet said confidently, turning to smile at her friend sitting on her right. "Applied physics would be fine for me."

Dewey paused for a moment to find a file from one of the drawers in his desk. He grabbed a pen from a pot in the windowsill behind him and wrote down Violet's chosen subject. "Applied physics," he murmured as he jotted it down before turning to Klaus. "And what about you, Klaus?" he asked curiously.

"I'm not sure, really," Klaus shrugged. "I've always been interested in a lot of things."

"That's because you're a keen reader," Violet said helpfully. "What if you did something like Dewey? Would you enjoy being a researcher?"

"Yes, actually," Klaus said, smiling. "I'd love to be a researcher."

"So, you'd like to do a researching course?" Dewey asked, mirroring Klaus' smile. A researcher himself, he loved to see young people who shared his passion for reading.

"Yes please," Klaus replied.

"Any specifics?" Dewey asked. "Would you rather journalism, analytical research, rhetorical analysis or something else?"

"I don't really mind," Klaus said. "As long as it means a lot of reading."

"I'm sure I can sort that for you," Dewey said as he wrote Klaus' choice down on another file. "Now, why don't you two head back to the council hall? I'm sure one of my associates there will lead you to your new dormitories."

"What about Arlo?" Violet asked. "Isn't he coming with us?"

"No, he won't be," Dewey said. "He has already completed the first stage of V.F.D. training, and won't be in your classes." This statement disappointed Violet, as she was looking forward to spending more time with the young inventor, who she had become close friends with during her travels. Like Klaus, Violet hadn't heard from any of her old school friends since the terrible fire that destroyed her home, but she found that she didn't mind all that much when she was with Arlo. When she was busy working with him on some project or another, she could almost forget the troubles of the world. He made her feel safe.

"However, you will still be able to see him around the Headquarters outside of classes, as he'll be staying here for the next stage of his training, at least for the foreseeable future," Dewey added, which made Violet feel somewhat better.

"What will he be doing?" she asked.

"That is for Arlo and I to discuss," Dewey said, standing up from the desk, indicating to the Baudelaires that their presence was no longer required in his office. He walked to the door, and held it open as Violet and Klaus walked out of his office.

"Thank-you," Violet said politely to Dewey as Klaus started walking down the corridor towards the council hall.

"It's my pleasure, Baudelaires," Dewey replied. "I hope you enjoy your stay here at the Headquarters," he said, his voice full of kindness.

"I'm sure we'll see you soon, Dewey," Klaus said, and with that, the Baudelaire siblings disappeared down the corridor, feeling better than before. Dewey smiled as he watched them walk away before walking back into his office, shutting the door once more before sitting down opposite Arlo.

"Now, Thursday," Dewey said as he searched through the drawers of his desk before pulling out a large file. "I trust that you've passed your units comfortably?"

"Mostly," Arlo shrugged as a reply. "I scored 'Competent's in most, with 'Outstanding's in Code Manipulation and Use of Initiative."

"Very good," Dewey smiled. "Any 'Incomplete's?"

"One," Arlo admitted. "Disguise Training." Arlo had been trained away from the Headquarters like many of V.F.D.'s members, taught privately by his parents, or in Arlo's case, his father. His mother had been killed fighting for the volunteers some years before (he didn't know how or why), so his father had completed the first stage of training with him in the Verdant Valley by the time he was fourteen. In the year since then, Arlo had spent his time as he wished, using his knowledge to construct hand-gliders that he'd designed himself, and spent hours testing them in the valley where he'd grown up.

"I guess you're prepared enough for the second stage of V.F.D. training," Dewey concluded, and slid a large file across the desk to Arlo, and the young man picked it up, reading it.

"It's a list of all forty-eight active V.F.D. council members, ordered by their contribution to the organisation," Dewey explained. "I assume you're familiar with the second stage of training, Thursday?"

Arlo nodded. He knew that all neophytes would become apprenticed to more experienced members from graduation after stage one until adulthood as part of their training.

"One of the names on that list will become your chaperone, Thursday," Dewey continued. "It's up to you to decide who that will be."

Arlo scanned his eyes down the list from _#1 Dewey Denouement_ to _#48 Gustav Sebald_, hoping for a name to stand out to him. He skimmed past _#4 Beatrice Baudelaire_, Violet's mother, and _#6 Kit Snicket_ before his eyes settled on _#26 Daniel Thursday_. His own father. But he quickly checked across the columns to see that he already had an apprentice, listed as _Anna Thursday, 13_. His younger sister, who had cared more about her training than he had, was offered a place to work with his father before he was. He spotted _#19 Hector_ (their surname was illegible in Dewey's scrappy handwriting), who had given Arlo specialist lessons about the laws of flight two summers ago, the last time that Arlo had visited the V.F.D. Headquarters. But now Dewey's list had a side comment about Hector, who was apparently away on a mission in the Village of Fowl Devotees, and was unable to acquire an apprentice.  
Finally, Arlo saw a name that stood out to him, and was an eligible - a word which here means "suitable, and not away on a mission or already with another apprentice" - chaperone; _#13 Lemony Snicket_.

"If possible, I'd like to work with Lemony Snicket," Arlo told Dewey confidently.

"Lemony?" Dewey said incredulously, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Arlo said, flicking his long black hair away from his face as he smiled. "I want to work under him."

"I'll see what I can do," said Dewey, although Arlo could tell that he was unsure.

"What's the problem?" Arlo asked.

"Well, to tell the truth, Lemony has never chaperoned anyone in twenty years," Dewey admitted. "He does a very good job on his own. I'll have to ask him about it."

"Isn't your policy that all council members have to become chaperones if asked?"

"Yes, but-"

"-Then what's the problem?" Arlo snapped, although he immediately regretted it. He understood that although it was infuriating, he had to respect the authorities. He was used to having a free rein in the Verdant Valley, where he could do as he pleased, and wasn't fond of all of V.F.D.'s rules and regulations. But he knew that he had to conform - where "conform" here means "obey" - if he wanted to help Violet.

"I'll go and speak to him," Dewey said, getting up from his desk once more. "In the meantime, I suggest that you head to the canteen. You must be hungry after your journey this morning."

* * *

"Come in, Thursday."

Arlo slowly opened the door into another office, not unlike Dewey Denouement's apart from the blue carpet on the floor. The only other difference was the man behind the desk. The man was formally dressed in a shirt and tie, and had medium length dark brown hair above his excited brown eyes. He seemed to have nervous mannerisms, as though he thought that he was always being watched. This was Lemony Snicket, the youngest of the three Snicket siblings, at forty-two years of age.

"Please, take a seat," he gestured kindly, and Arlo sat down opposite him.

"Dewey Denouement has informed me that you wish to become my apprentice," Lemony said matter-of-factly, a phrase which here means "with little emotion". "And I have agreed to accept your request."

"So, I'm your apprentice?" Arlo said, smiling.

"Yes," Lemony confirmed. "But before we start on any of your training, I need to lay down a few ground rules." Lemony leaned forward in his chair, causing Arlo to do the same, before continuing.

"My name is Lemony Snicket," he said bluntly. "You shall call me Snicket. Or Lemony. Take your pick. I shall call you Thursday. I am here to help you complete your training within this organisation, where I hope you will follow by example as you learn the roles of a V.F.D. agent. You already have the skills from stage one of training. Your time with me will teach you how and when to apply what you have learnt. As much as I may hope that we become friends, you are first and foremost my apprentice. That means that you take orders from me, and that my decision is final on any matter."

Arlo groaned inwardly, a phrase which here means that he disliked what his chaperone had said, but was too polite to say so. Yet more rules for him to follow. Yet another authority figure.

"I am currently without a mission," Lemony continued. "So we have little to do at the moment."

"Why haven't you got anything currently?" Arlo asked.

"You may know already, Thursday, that I have only recently rejoined the organisation," Lemony answered. "After years in hiding from the authorities - a phrase which here means 'avoiding capture for crimes I didn't commit' - I've returned to the organisation to aid in the schism, which hasn't been kind to our side in recent years." Lemony paused once again, and Arlo took the opportunity to ask another question.

"Are you looking for a case?" Arlo asked eagerly.

"Yes," was Thursday's blunt reply. "I hope that the council allow me to have control of the Baudelaire case,"

"The Baudelaire case?"

"Yes, Thursday, I just told you that. You are an apprentice, not a mynah bird. You don't need to repeat me."

"Why, though? What is important about the Baudelaire case, Lemony?" Arlo asked, even though he thought that working on the Baudelaire case would be a perfect scenario. However, his chaperone's face darkened when he asked the question, and Lemony leaned in towards him, speaking quietly yet with authority.

"I like you, Thursday," he said. "You seem to be an intelligent and inquisitive young man. It is good to ask questions. But listen to me carefully, Thursday. If you ask all the wrong questions, nothing good will come of it. I may not have approved of your asking this time, but let's just say that I have connections with one of the persons involved."

Arlo raised an eyebrow at this and looked at his chaperone in a different light for the first time. As Arlo sat there in his office, he wondered what connections Lemony Snicket had with the Baudelaire family, and what made him so keen to bring Beatrice and Sunny Baudelaire back.


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Klaus was happy.

It was the last day of September, and he'd been at the V.F.D. Headquarters in the Mortmain Mountains for almost six weeks. In that time, he thought that he had managed to settle in well to his new life. While many aspects of it were still far from perfect, nothing was getting worse. He had settled into his training at the Headquarters quickly, enjoying the company of the other young men and women on the course. He found all of the core lessons interesting enough, although he vastly preferred his specialist studies, in which he was taught how to become a researcher in one-on-one lessons with Dewey Denouement, which he found most enjoyable. He would sleep in a dormitory with the other male neophytes, and he soon found that he was good friends with many of them. There was one boy called Fabian who Klaus was particularly good friends with, as Fabian was around his age and wanted to become a detective, a more hands-on approach to Klaus' own interest. There was another boy slightly older than Klaus called Simon Webber who could play the guitar, and Klaus often found pleasant music coming from his dormitory in the evenings. All in all, it was a lovely place to be.

Violet also enjoyed the lessons, although she often grew lonely due to the lack of female company. Most of the girls being trained were three or four years younger than her. But she didn't mind too much. Violet was a keen learner, and she was often so absorbed in her studies that she didn't mind working alone. But what she really did enjoy was her specialist lessons, in which she worked with an older man called C.M. Kornbluth who Violet thought was even more passionate about inventing than she was. Much like Violet, he was always tinkering away at some project or another, and was always eager to help and assist her with anything that she needed help or assistance with. Violet always found his private lessons the most interesting of her training. Over those first few weeks, she spent a lot of time with her tutor, often taking the time to visit him outside of lessons to show him some invention or other that she had devised in her free time.

Along with Klaus' research skills, Violet's inventing skills blossomed at the Headquarters during those weeks, and the two Baudelaire siblings felt as though they hadn't been happier since the terrible fire that destroyed their home. In their free time away from training, the two Baudelaires often visited the extensive library at the Headquarters, and spent many evenings researching topics of their choice. Of course, much of the library was official records, but this section was kept off-limits to neophytes, which was both a blessing and a curse to Violet and Klaus. Part of them wanted to read the old records about how their parents came to be involved in this organisation, but they also didn't want to find out. Klaus was more curious that Violet, but even he understood that if his parents had wanted them to find out, they would have been told. He didn't want to stand against his parents, especially not with a matter as sensitive and important as this.

The only downside to the Baudelaire children's lives at that time was the rest of the family's condition. Every day, Violet and Klaus visited the hospital wing to talk to their father, but his condition was barely improving. The doctors told the children that it would be weeks, maybe even months, before the harpoon wound would fully heal. Violet and Klaus also asked members of the council regularly about what they called 'The Baudelaire Case', but they rarely told anything of importance. They usually just smiled sadly at them and said that everything was under control, but over time Violet and Klaus began to doubt it.

But at least they had found some happiness in the Mortmain Mountains after the ordeals that the summer had given them. While Klaus had made new friends within the Headquarters, Violet stayed with Arlo. There weren't many girls (or boys, for that matter) of her age, and the bond that she had formed with Arlo in the Verdant Valley only grew stronger as summer turned into autumn. Arlo had plenty of free time; Lemony was going through a quiet period in terms of work, and Arlo had plenty of time to work on his pastime. With Violet's help, he managed to construct a second glider, and earned permission to test it in the Valley of Four Draughts. One weekend in September, he managed to convince his chaperone to come with the tow of them in a climb up Mount Fraught near the Headquarters. Lemony agreed, and the three of them spent a day climbing, camped overnight at the summit, which had the most spectacular view that Violet had ever seen. In the hours after dawn the next day, they set up hand-gliders and flew them from the top, in one of Arlo's riskiest ideas to date. Still, it worked, and looking back on the weekend, Violet thought that it was one of the best of her life.

In general, all was well for the Baudelaire siblings. At least, all was well until that evening, when September was drawing to a close.

Klaus was sitting in a comfy chair in a corner of the V.F.D. library, relaxing as he had done on many an evening. The motto of the secret organisation was 'The World is Quiet Here', and Klaus saw it written on the archway into the library every day. Here, where he always felt peaceful, he could only agree with the motto, which seemed fitting for his tranquil surroundings. All was quiet, but for the hushed whispers of Violet and Arlo at a table just out of his sight. It didn't bother him, though, as he was still able to focus on his reading, which on that particular night was a book about the flora and fauna - which were fancy words for "plants and animals" - of the Finite Forest. Everything was peaceful.

"Baudelaires?" a worried, female voice called out suddenly, much too loud for a library. Violet heard the woman get reprimanded by the librarian, but then she called out again, and Violet realised that the voice belonged to Kit Snicket.

"Baudelaires?" she called. "I have news from Bladeridge Castle!"

Suddenly, both Violet and Klaus were on their feet, hurrying from the library, with Arlo desperately trying to keep up with them as they weaved past other volunteers through the narrow gaps in the corridors. Violet and Klaus both felt anxious as they reached Kit, as they knew from her tone of voice that they would not be receiving good news. They wanted to know what had happened, but they were unsure whether or not they would be better off for knowing.

"Come with me," Kit Snicket said as the three children arrived at the exit of the library. She looked anxious, which only made the Baudelaires feel worse. "I only expected two of you," she said hourly when she noticed Arlo was with them. "But you should come too, Thursday. My brother requires your assistance. All three of you should follow me."  
And so Kit led the way trough the corridors of the V.F.D. Headquarters towards the council room, and all three children were unsure of what to find when they arrived.

When they did arrive, they found the council room to be much as it was on the day that they first arrived, as though a meeting was about to start. Today, Dewey Denouement sat at the head of the table, and as Violet sat down anxiously, he was busy reading two sheets of paper intensely. Looking around the table, Violet noticed that there were slightly fewer people at the table today than on the first day, but their facial expressions did nothing to help Violet's anxiety. The jovial, kind faces were gone; today, everyone was focused on their own problems, and Violet saw worried faces around the room. Most worryingly, she saw the look on her father's face from across the table, which did even less to help her than the others.

"Today," Dewey Denouement read once everyone had taken their seats. "I have received two very important letters. One is from a friend; Jacques Snicket, who we now know to be safe. He has reached the Verdant Valley base, where he has the Snicket File in safe hands." This news seemed to cheer up the council members around the table, although it meant little to Violet, Klaus and Arlo. "However, the second letter has been sent by Count Olaf, from Bladeridge Castle itself. It reads as follows." Dewey Denouement held up a small sheet of paper so that it was easily legible in the light, and paused to clear his throat before reading the letter aloud.

_Dearest volunteers,_

_Recently I have noticed some of your number taking interest in my work at Bladeridge Castle. Too much interest. Madame diLustro and her apprentice are dead. I mean to warn anyone else who intrudes in our business at the castle that they will meet a similar fate to your late comrade._

_However, I will admit to holding Beatrice and Sunny Baudelaire in the castle against their will, and I am willing to release them for the right price, of course. I expect no money or objects of value, too. Just the sugar bowl, delivered directly to me in exchange for one of your finest agents and her child. Of course, my fortress is so heavily guarded that attack would be foolish, so this really is your only option._

_I'll be waiting where you know to find me,_

_Olaf_

Dewey put down the piece of paper and looked around the table sadly. Most of the volunteers looked distraught, although Klaus couldn't tell whether they were grieving for the loss of their comrade or struggling to work out a plan of action.

"I'm sure that we are all troubled by the loss of diLustro," Dewey said carefully, and several council members nodded. "But at the moment, we have more important things to worry about."

"Like how we're getting Beatrice back?" asked a chubby, red-faced man that Violet and Klaus now knew as Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, a herpetologist, which is a word used to describe a person who studies snakes.

"Exactly," Dewey agreed confidently. "The first thing to note, and I'm sure that we all agree on this, is that we cannot give the sugar bowl to Olaf."

"Why not?" asked Violet frustratedly. She didn't know why a sugar bowl could be so important. It was clear to her that it was worth more than one would assume that a Vessel For Disaccharides would be worth, but more than the lives of two people? She doubted it.

"It's not the sugar bowl itself that is important," Lemony Snicket explained, who was sitting next to Arlo. "It's what's inside."

"And what is inside?" Klaus asked, but Dewey had already moved on the debate.

"It's clear that we need to send agents to continue diLustro's work," he said. "And Lemony has already volunteered himself and his apprentice for the mission." This took Arlo by surprise, but it also pleased him. Wasn't this what he had wanted? "However, we need more than a team of two," Dewey continued. "I've tried to contact Jacques over him taking part in this mission, but we won't have a reply until the morning. In the meantime, I need a couple more of you to volunteer for this mission."

Both Violet's and Klaus' hands shot straight into the air. Both of them wanted to get their mother and sister back desperately. It had been two months since they last saw them, and the two siblings had found themselves missing them more and more. And why shouldn't they volunteer, anyway? It wasn't like they couldn't handle themselves. They'd survived the ordeal to reach the Mortmain Mountains, hadn't they? Arlo would be by their side once more, and this time there would be adults with them, too.

However, Dewey Denouement did not seem as keen as the Baudelaire children to let two relatively untrained children take part in such an important mission. He scanned the room looking for other volunteers to choose instead, but no-one else had put themselves forward. They either didn't care enough for the mission or were too fearful of repeating Madame diLustro's fate to volunteer. Reluctantly, Dewey turned once again to Violet and Klaus.

"Very well, Baudelaires," he said, trying to appear as though he condoned - a word which here means "approved" - their eagerness to be a part of the mission. "You shall join Snicket and his apprentice on their mission. You have tonight to prepare, and the four of you will leave in the morning, when I have received word from Jacques Snicket in the Verdant Valley." Dewey paused for a moment, trying his best to smile despite his uncertainty.

"Good luck, Baudelaires," he said at last. "You'll need it."


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

Klaus was uncomfortable.

He was sat in the back of Lemony Snicket's small, green motor car, squashed against the window. Next to him was his sister, and next to her was Arlo Thursday. It was a tight fit in such a small car, but there was no alternative. In the front was Lemony, and in the passenger's seat next to him was his elder brother Jacques, who they had travelled to the Verdant Valley to collect en route to Bladeridge Castle.

They were travelling south through the hot, dry desert known as the Hinterlands on a bumpy, dusty track. The car was old and the suspension was poor, so the ride was uncomfortable, and did nothing to help Klaus' position. As the road grew bumpier, Klaus began to get motion sickness, and Violet told him to take deep breaths and look straight ahead at the road in order to help him. He was also incredibly bored, as he had nothing to read on the long journey, and resorted to staring out at the vast nothingness of the Hinterlands.

Meanwhile, Violet wasn't faring much better. It may have been early October, but the Hinterlands were still swelteringly warm by day, and Lemony's old car had no air conditioning, so it grew incredibly stuffy as the hours passed with five people inside. For a while, nobody spoke, and Violet had nothing else to do but to stare out at the vast nothingness of the Hinterlands.

Arlo was also struggling on the long journey. He might not have had motion sickness from the bumpy journey like Klaus, and he had the car window open on his side, allowing him to be cooler than Violet, but he found the car's bumpy ride intolerable, a word which here means "the terrible ride quality had given him a sore back from all the bumps and jolts of the car's movement." However, like his two friends, he had nothing to do on the long journey, and had to spend most of it looking out at the vast nothingness of the Hinterlands.

However, there was one other thing that all three children had in common on that afternoon in Autumn. As Lemony's car slowly - and uncomfortably, I may add - made its way south towards Verdant Valley, all three children were left wondering why the sugar bowl mattered so much to the nefarious Count Olaf. They all knew that it wasn't the sugar bowl itself that was important, but what was inside, but as to what that was, it was anybody's guess. As

Klaus looked ahead at the dusty track they were driving along, he wondered whether the sugar bowl contained vital information, that could alter the course of the schism that divided V.F.D. in the favour of the Fire-Starting Side. As Violet looked out at the heat haze over the inhospitable desert, she wondered if the sugar bowl contained some sort of powerful invention or device that would chance the course of the schism. As Arlo stared out of his open window, he wondered whether the sugar bowl contained an all-powerful weapon that would alter the course of the schism. The three young trainee volunteers may have all thought that the sugar bowl contained different things, but they all knew that whatever was inside, it was crucial that it was kept away from the Firestarters.

Eventually, as the sun sank low in the tranquil blue sky that evening, their journey was nearing its end. The rough roads of the Hinterlands gave way to the smoothly paved roads of the forests north of Tedia, the largest town in the area. The land was hilly, but nowhere near as mountainous at the Mortmain Mountains that the children were now used to. As the night fell, the small car was travelling through a densely wooded valley, barely fifteen miles from their journey's end. The back of the car may have been quiet for hours, but Lemony and Jacques had been talking animatedly in quiet voices for hours in the front of the car. But at this point in the journey, the voices stopped as Jacques turned on the radio. There was a song playing that none of the children particularly liked, but it quickly faded out as the voice of a newsreader came over the airwaves.

"And now, the news at ten," the man read over the airwaves. "Breaking news tonight is that there has tragically been a fire at the Caligari Carnival, where at least nineteen people are feared to have died. The owner of the carnival, Ms. Olivia Caliban, often known under the name Madame Lulu, has been confirmed as one of-"

Apparently, at this point in the news article, Lemony had had enough, as he flipped off the radio in anger and frustration. Of course, you and I both know that it is excessively rude and often completely unnecessary to use profanity, but I believe that on this occasion, it is acceptable to forgive Lemony Snicket for his outburst.

"Damn!" he swore, thumping his fists into the dashboard of his car, and the children were immediately dredged out of their separate trains of thought and back to reality.

"What is it?" Arlo asked, slightly worried by his chaperone's outburst.

"Another safe place has gone up in flames," he said sadly, trying to concentrate on driving safely while attempting to contain his grief.

"The Caligari Carnival," Jacques filled in for his brother, who was at a loss for words at that moment. "Ms. Caliban is dead." The Baudelaires hadn't known her well, but they could picture Olivia Caliban alive and well at the V.F.D. Headquarters, and felt sorry that her life had come to such an abrupt and untimely end.

"These are dark days for the organisation," Jacques continued. "We are losing safe places and members more and more," he said glumly.

"That is why we cannot afford to let our enemies get their hands on the sugar bowl," Lemony said. "With the sugar bowl in their possession, our plight would be hopeless." With the mention of the elusive - a word which here means "mysterious" - sugar bowl, the three children in the back of the car saw their chance to ask more.

"What exactly is in the sugar bowl?" Arlo asked hopefully.

"That's the wrong question to ask, Thursday," Lemony said, reprimanding his apprentice. "Only our most trusted agents can know of the secrets that lie within the sugar bowl."

"So what can you tell me about it?" Arlo asked, trying again to get answers.

"That's better, Thursday," Lemony replied, smiling. "Well, I can tell you of its history - at least, what I know of it."

"Please tell us," Klaus said eagerly, to which Lemony sighed before beginning his tale.

"When I first heard of the sugar bowl," Lemony began. "It was in the possession of a V.F.D. agent; a young woman called Esmé Squalor. She was a friendly woman to be around, and while we may not have been close friends, she was definitely a good acquaintance. However, she had her flaws. She was vain, conceited and often selfish. And when the schism began, she was one of the first defectors - a word which means that she abandoned us to join the Firestarters. Of course, we couldn't just sit back and let her deliver the sugar bowl to our enemies, and so I became part of a plan to steal the sugar bowl back. After much planning, the mission was successful, with one of our agents - your mother, Baudelaires - taking the sugar bowl from Esmé Squalor. When Beatrice withdrew from V.F.D. to begin a new life in the city, she returned the sugar bowl to us, where we have hidden the sugar bowl to keep it from enemy hands."

"Where has it been hidden?" Violet asked.

"I can't tell you that, Violet," Lemony replied. "Just like the knowledge of what the sugar bowl contains, the knowledge of its location is only known by our most trusted agents." Lemony paused for a moment before voicing something that both his brother and himself had been concerned about for the whole journey. "At the moment, my greatest fear is that Olaf grows tired of waiting for the sugar bowl, and realises that Beatrice knows of its whereabouts. I don't want to think about what he might do to her then..."

For the Baudelaire children, this did nothing but stiffen their resolve, as they knew that if they did nothing, their family (and the whole of V.F.D.) might pay the price for their actions, or in this case, lack of action. And so as the small car made its way along the final leg of the journey to a reclusive part of the woods just a mile from Bladeridge Castle, the car fell silent again, with all five volunteers - or trainee volunteers - were deep in thought, grieving the loss of a comrade, and wondering how on earth they could save another.

* * *

**(Serious) Author's Note: That's it for updates today (10th August), I'm afraid.**

**If you've enjoyed the opening chapters to this story, please review! As ever, constructive criticism is welcomed :)**


	8. Chapter Eight

**(Serious) Author's Note: Thanks to Theonewhoweaveswords and krikanalo for reviewing the last chapter! :)**

**I apologise for the lack of updates in the last week, as I've been writing Hunger Games fanfiction. Feel free to check it out if you're interested. To make up for the lack of updates, this chapter is the longest yet :)**

**The action starts to pick up in this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy reading it :)**

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

Violet was tired.

It was almost ten in the evening when the five of them finally got out of the car, and it took all of their energy to unpack Lemony's car, and to put up their two small tents, where they promptly fell asleep.

When Violet woke in the morning, she dressed herself quickly and was the first outside of the tent in the early hours of that October morning, when the sun had only just risen. The forest was dense and filled with deciduous trees - oaks, birches, elms and the like - so the woods had an orange glow that morning. Alone in the crisp, fresh air, Violet wrapped up in her coat and went for a short walk. The tent was situated in a hollow within the woods, barely a hundred yards from the road, yet completely invisible to any passers by.

Violet slowly walked through the trees to the smooth, paved road, where she could look straight down towards Bladeridge Castle. On that morning, she had never laid eyes on - a phrase which here means "never seen" - Bladeridge Castle before, and was immediately intimidated by the sight half a mile down the road. Slowly, she walked along the road towards the castle, and soon the trees began to thin out before giving way to short grass two hundred yards from Bladeridge Castle. She stopped at the edge of the woods, staying in the shadow of the trees in the early morning sun, as she observed what her comrades and herself were up against.

The land in front of Violet was largely flat, with hills springing up on both sides of her. From the peaks, she could see a narrow ridge that joined the two hills, forming a horseshoe shape that surrounded the castle, leaving Violet feeling trapped, even though she was far from the fortress. The flat grassland stopped abruptly just in front of the castle, dropping into what Violet presumed to be a large ditch, which could only be crossed by a single drawbridge at the end of the road. As for the castle itself, Violet could see its thick stone walls towering above the ditch, twenty or thirty feet high. A gatehouse, which was even taller and more intimidating than the walls, guarded the drawbridge, making the lone entrance virtually impregnable, a word which perfectly describes Violet's lack of belief with the notion of going in through the front door. Behind the gatehouse stood the keep, the central building of the castle, almost double the height of the surrounding buildings. Somehow, Violet had a feeling that if her mother and younger sister were indeed inside, then that would be where they would be. Intimidated but not yet too disheartened, Violet turned away from Bladeridge Castle, walking the short journey back to her camp.

When she arrived back at the camp, she found a few of her compatriots - "compatriots" is a fancy word for "friends" - to already be awake, and she saw Arlo sitting next to his chaperone in the heat of a small cooking fire they had set up. Thankfully, there was little foliage in the wood used, so there was no smoke giving away their position to any of their enemies that may be lurking nearby.

"Where'd you wander off to?" Lemony asked her as she sat down with them, handing her some food.

"Towards the castle," Violet replied. "It looks like it'll be difficult to infiltrate."

"We don't need to infiltrate it," Lemony replied, which surprised Violet somewhat. How else were they going to get her mother and sister back?

"Why not?" she asked.

"We're only here for reconaissance," Lemony explained, "which means that-"

"-I know what it means," Violet snapped tiredly. "But who is going to try and rescue them, then?"

"Probably us," Lemony admitted. "But not yet. I understand that you must be worried about your family, but rushing in could result in nothing but our own imprisonment. We must make sure that we are safe before attempting any rescue missions."

Annoyingly, Violet understood that Lemony was talking sense. If they were caught, what use would they be to the cause? The other Baudelaires would still be in danger, and only they had lost out. Their own safety had to come first.

"So when do we start?" Violet asked. Now that the journey was over, she felt as though it would only be so long before her relatives would be moved away to another heavily defended location, or worse.

"Our first mission should be tonight," Lemony replied. "In the meantime, we have to make sure that we have everything we need here at the camp. Gather up firewood, find a safe water source for cooking water and bathing, make sure the tent remains hidden and so on."

"Jacques has taken the car and gone looking for somewhere to buy food," Arlo added, who had been quiet until that point in the conversation. "The drive to Tedia, the nearest town, is too far away to make regularly. We need somewhere else to buy all our regular supplies from."

"But while we wait for his return," Lemony said. "We have more important matters, such as breakfast. Toast, anyone?"

* * *

The day seemed to pass slowly as the five volunteers sorted out their small camp. That morning, Violet and Klaus collected firewood and cooking water from a small stream in the woods a couple of hundred metres away, coming back for lunch with plenty of supplies. Jacques returned early in the afternoon after his fruitless search, a phrase which in this context means that he didn't find anywhere to buy essential supplies. That afternoon, the two Baudelaire children spent their time lounging around at camp after a tiring morning carrying heavy loads, while the Snicket brothers pored over their maps of the area, formulating a plan of action for the task that awaited them. These two men were as determined as anyone to find a way into the castle.

Arlo had spent most of the day alone, as he disappeared into the woods shortly after Jacques' return. Arlo was a good hunter; in the Verdant Valley, over a hundred miles from the nearest town, Arlo and his family had to learn how to get their own food. Hunting in the valley was easy, as Arlo had his snares; trusty metal contraptions that he had devised himself to help him with his work. In these woods near Bladeridge Castle, it was just like the old days again. All Arlo had was his knife and the element of surprise.

* * *

It was early evening by the time that Arlo returned, wearied and sweaty by his travails.

He arrived back almost empty-handed, excluding a lone rabbit for all his work. Unfortunately for Arlo, he was irritated to find that he had actually missed dinner, and that his offering of food wasn't actually needed. At the time that he arrived back, the Snicket brothers and the Baudelaire children were busy in conversation, discussing their plan of action for the evening.

"It's clear that we need to find a good vantage point to view the castle from," Jacques pointed out as Arlo joined the conversation. "We need somewhere that isn't too close, to avoid us bring spotted."

"I was a decent distance away from the castle earlier," Violet said helpfully. "Nobody spotted me then."

"However, there's no way of seeing over the Walls into the castle from that position," Lemony said disappointedly.

"We could look down at the castle from Blade Ridge," Klaus suggested eagerly. "I was looking over some of the maps of the area earlier, and it seems that there is an easy route up onto the ridge."

"Do you think we'll be close enough to get a good view from there?" Violet asked. "It looks quite high up."

"It _is_ high up," Klaus explained. "The maps show the elevation difference to be almost five hundred feet."

"That doesn't matter," Arlo said, smiling. "I've brought a pair of binoculars with me, so we'll be able to see everything clearly."

"Very well, then," Lemony concluded. "I guess we'll be going to Blade Ridge tonight."

* * *

It took another hour before they were ready to leave. Lemony, who seemed to be the authority figure of the group, had originally planned for just himself and Arlo to undertake the reconnaissance mission, but Violet had insisted that she should go. With some persuasion from Arlo, Lemony allowed her to join them as they left Jacques and Klaus back at the camp. The sun had begun to set over the woodland, and once the trio had climbed onto the slopes of one of the two hills on either side of the castle, the bitter wind made all three volunteers suffer in the cold. It wasn't below zero, but it was close.

Violet, who had expected such things from an autumn evening, had come prepared, wearing a long, hooded coat that matched the colour of her name. Maybe it wasn't the best choice of clothing if she wanted to be unnoticed, but she hoped that the dimming light of the sunset would make her stand out less. Plus, they were watching the castle from a safe distance, there was little chance of anything going wrong that evening. Lemony was also dressed for the occasion, a phrase which can here be used to describe the long coat and trilby hat that he had chosen to wear for the evening's expedition. However, Violet couldn't help but be surprised to see Arlo wearing a long, black coat, too. It seemed as though he was never cold to her. Even at the top of Mount Fraught, he only wore a t-shirt. She couldn't help but think that it suited him, though, as the three continue their trek up the hill.

Considering its height, Klaus had found a quick route up the hill for them, and Violet found herself at the summit within an hour. From the vantage point, she could look back at the camp that she left behind. For the first time, she realised how good their location was. Even from altitude, their two tents and remains of a cooking fire were barely visible through the trees. She couldn't see either Jacques or Klaus, and presumed that they were inside the tents. She wasn't overly keen on living in tents - she could still remember the stressful night in a tent with Arlo in the Hinterlands during the summer - but Violet understood that it was what was necessary if she wanted to help get her parents back. She knew that it wasn't going to be a pleasure cruise, and she had still wanted to help. Her suffering here, she thought, was far less than the suffering of Sunny and her mother.

Violet reminded herself of this as she pulled up the hood of her coat, trying to fend off the biting wind, slowly averting her gaze to followed the dusty, tarmac road near their base towards the castle at the end of it. In the evening sun, Bladeridge Castle looked even more menacing than before, with the setting sun setting behind Blade Ridge, silhouetting the frightening fortress. Looking beyond the curtain wall, she saw many small buildings surrounding the keep, making her mission feel more like a lost cause than Violet had previously thought possible. In a castle of that size, there would be no end of hiding places. She could remember when her parents once took her and Klaus to see a ruined castle near to the city. At such an impressionable age, the castle had looked massive to an eight-year-old Violet, and she could remember Klaus exploring it in its entirety, finding no ends of hidden rooms and hiding spots. Even though Violet had grown a lot in the six years since then, the castle in the valley below her on that October evening seemed even larger to her than the one that her parents had taken her to all those years before. To say that Violet found this sight disheartening was an understatement. She spent several minutes staring out at the view while Lemony and Arlo rested, before Lemony finally spoke.

"I guess we'd better get started," Lemony said. "I'd like it to still be light when we arrive at the ridge."

And with that, Lemony set off from the summit, walking along a narrow path that sloped downwards for fifty metres or so before flattening out and narrowing, turning into a sharp, narrow ridge; the Blade Ridge, with its steep scree slopes on either side. Once again, it would be an understatement to say that Violet was nervous as she took her first tentative steps onto Blade Ridge.

Violet quickly found out that the worst part of travelling along Blade Ridge is that you are completely exposed to the elements, a phrase which here means "completely at the mercy of the wind." The ridge has a dusty path covered in loose stones, but the footing isn't enough to help you combat the violent gusts that have nothing to target but you when you walk along the dangerous, three-metre-wide ridge. Violet was beginning to think that this was a bad idea. Even Arlo, who she had always known to be strong and stable, was having difficulty staying on his feet when the unexpected gusts arrived.

Slowly, the three volunteers managed to work their way along the ridge until they reached the point that it was closest to the castle. Once there, they all lay down on their front, leaning over the edge of the narrow ridge, looking down towards the castle. Lemony had suggested lying down to make the three of them harder to spot, but night was drawing in and the chances of them being spotted were so remote anyway that it was an unnecessary precaution. Arlo quickly fished his pair of binoculars out of the large rucksack that he seemed to take everywhere with him, and handed them to Lemony. His chaperone took the binoculars eagerly and peered down at the castle below them. Violet watched lemony as he raised his eyebrows at whatever he could see, before furrowing them in concentration, and then finally sighing, putting down the binoculars defeatedly.

"What is it?" Arlo asked curiously. "What can you see?"

"Take a look for yourself," Lemony replied, tossing Arlo's binoculars back at him.

Arlo caught the binoculars and peered through them down at the castle for a few moments before taking them off again, confused.

"What is it?" this time it was Violet who was asking, and Arlo was the one handing over the binoculars.

Violet took them eagerly and used them to have a proper look at Bladeridge Castle for the first time. Night was falling, and it was difficult to see much in the twilight, but Violet could see enough. For the third time in this chapter, I must say that it would be an understatement to say that what Violet saw was a disappointment.

Looking through the binoculars, Violet saw absolutely nothing going on at Bladeridge Castle. There were no people milling around outside, no lights in any of the buildings. It was eerily quiet.

"There's no-one there," Violet said slowly, her shocked voice barely above a whisper. "Didn't Olaf say that he was waiting her with them?"

"Yes," Lemony nodded. "Something is going on, for sure. In a building of this size, I'd expect at least some sign of activity. It's either deserted or has minimal inhabitants, I think."

"There's probably just very few people guarding the castle," Arlo said. "After all, I doubt Olaf expects open confrontation. I'm sure he feels invincible within those castle walls."

"If he's actually there," Violet added.

"I'm sure that he is," Arlo replied positively. "He wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of trying to bargain with us just to lie, would he?"

"I guess not," Violet said, but she wasn't really sure. She wondered whether this whole thing was a decoy of sorts, to take attention away from another important location, but she didn't voice this theory. Instead she asked another important question.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" she asked.

"I'm going to stay here for the night and watch the castle for any signs of Olaf or his associates," Lemony said decisively. "I made sure that Arlo brought a flask of coffee with us, so I'll be able to stay up most of the night. Hopefully I can learn of something that will be of use to us."

"What about us?" Violet asked, unsure what she was expected to do. The sun had now set completely, and temperature atop Blade Ridge was beginning to drop.

"Well, I expect Arlo to help me with my investigation," Lemony said matter-of-factly, to which Arlo nodded. "However, you can do as you please, Violet. I wouldn't advise against travelling back to camp in the dark, but if you wish to sleep, I'm sure that you could use Arlo's rucksack as a makeshift pillow, if you like."

Violet sighed. She wasn't sure how she had expected this trip to turn out, but certainly not like this. She had hoped that they would have found out at least one thing; a starting point for the investigations into the activity at Bladeridge Castle. But now, in the dark on Blade Ridge with a cold night ahead of her, Violet thought that maybe the best thing that she could do would be to sleep.

Maybe her situation would have improved by the morning.

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**(Serious) Author's Note: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Constructive criticism is welcomed :)**

**P.S. I will try to make updates more regular in the next week. Hopefully I can finish the last five chapters of this story by the end of next week :)**


	9. Chapter Nine

**(Serious) Author's Note: Thanks to krikanalo and Theonewhoweaveswords for reviewing the last chapter! :)**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

Violet was cold.

Despite sleeping wrapped up tightly in her coat, she was cold when she woke up to a cloudy sky that morning on Blade Ridge. Looking over towards the castle, she could see Lemony sitting at the edge of the ridge, still peering attentively through the binoculars at the fortifications below them. One the other side of Violet lay Arlo Thursday, who she couldn't help noticing looked particularly handsome when asleep, strands of his long black hair covering half of his face from view.

"I see that you're awake," Lemony said as he noticed Violet sit up.

"Haven't you had any sleep?" she asked him.

"No," he replied casually. "I'll catch up during the day. There's not much reason to stay here for much longer."

"Have you noticed anything?" she asked, remembering the fear that they were in the wrong place that had crept up on her the previous evening.

"Enough to know that we're in the right place," Lemony replied. "I've seen activity, but nothing useful. I expect that it may take several outings like this one get a full understanding of what we're up against."

"We'll be coming back, then?"

"Of course, Violet. You didn't expect us to learn everything we need in a weekend, did you? I can understand that you're eager to get your mother and sister back, but this is going to take time," Lemony explained.

"Don't you want to get her back, too?" Violet asked bravely, hoping that if she could make Lemony feel pressured into staying on the ridge longer. Every day could be a day too long. From what she understood, Olaf had been at the castle for two months already. Who knows what he could have done to her family in that time?

"I may never have met Sunny," Lemony replied slowly, putting down the binoculars and turning to face Violet. Both of them were talking barely above a whisper, so as not to wake Arlo. "But I knew your mother. More than Jacques, or anyone else back at the V.F.D. Headquarters. Excluding your father, of course. I know your mother even more than you do, Violet."

"What do you mean?" Violet asked, slightly confused as to how this man who she only met seven weeks before knew her mother more than she did. The idea seemed preposterous, a word which could be used here to describe Violet's shock at what Lemony had told her.

"Tell me, how old are you, Violet?" Lemony asked. "Thirteen? Fourteen?"

"Fourteen," Violet replied. "My fifteenth birthday is next February."

"Well, I knew your mother for seventeen years," Lemony replied. "I first met her in the same place that I first met you, at the Headquarters in the Mortmain Mountains. I was just eight years old then, following in my older siblings' footsteps and beginning my V.F.D. training. We're same age, and so we spent most of those early years in the same classes, becoming used to each other's company."

"What happened after that?" Violet asked. She was beginning to understand why Lemony had said that he knew her mother better than she did. She knew about Beatrice Baudelaire the mother, the woman who gave birth to Violet at almost twenty-eight years of age, but Violet's mother had barely spoken about her past to Violet. She knew nothing of Beatrice Baudelaire - or, whatever her maiden name was, Violet didn't know - the volunteer. Violet's mother had always been careful to mention little about her past to her children.

"We grew apart during our teenage years," Lemony explained. "As we both ended up apprenticed in different parts of the country during our second phase of V.F.D. training. I was apprenticed under a woman called S. Theodora Markson, and ended up in a small town far from the city called Stain'd-by-the-Sea."

"What did the S stand for?" Violet asked, curious to ask more about Lemony's own chaperone. Violet hadn't encountered her during her time in the Mortmain Mountains, and so she assumed that Ms. Markson was no longer working for the organisation.

"She never did tell me," Lemony replied quickly, trying to continue his story. "It was a surprisingly interesting apprenticeship, but that is another story. I was seventeen and a fully-qualified V.F.D. member before I had a good chance to talk to Beatrice again. Those were dark years for the volunteered as the schism reached its peak when I was in my early twenties. I was never much of a fighter myself - Beatrice was usually the one with the courage for the many daring missions that we were sent on, including the one that landed us in this mess, twenty years later."

"The mission to steal the sugar bowl?" Violet asked.

"Yes," Lemony nodded. "After that, the schism started to die down within a year, culminating with the battle for Anwhistle Aquatics and the infamous 'Snicket Snickersee'."

"What happened after that?"

"After the fire at Anwhistle Aquatics, I never saw your mother again," Lemony said sadly. "I was twenty-five then, but thanks to some poor research skills and the infamously inaccurate newspaper _The Daily Punctilio_, I ended up being framed for crimes - mostly fires - that I never committed, and was forced to go into hiding along with my siblings. Most left in the struggling V.F.D. didn't even know if I was alive or dead."

"My mother seemed to think that you were alive," Violet said. "She was searching for you when Olaf found us in the Hinterlands back in July."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she had done," Lemony said. "After going into hiding, I didn't show my face in V.F.D. again until two years ago, when I turned forty. It was only then that I learned that Olaf and his associates were still up to their old tricks." Lemony paused for a moment. "By that, I mean that he was still creating his evil plans, making life hell for volunteers everywhere. You'll have to forgive my slightly alternate way of speaking, Violet. I've picked up various idiosyncrasies - a word which means 'unique habits', from my former chaperone. I wouldn't be surprised if it rubs off on Arlo, eventually."

Violet and Lemony smiled at this as they both looked over at the sleeping Arlo, and were silent for a few moments.

"Did you ever know Arlo's mother?" Violet asked eventually, breaking the silence.

"Barely," Lemony said. "She was a year younger than Beatrice and I. We were acquaintances for years, but never friends. I was still upset when Jacques informed me of her loss," he finished sadly. Violet knew that Arlo was still affected by his mother's death while working for the volunteers. He never knew how she died, but he claimed that he didn't want to know. Violet was curious herself, but felt that she didn't want to be entrusted with such information, for fear of letting something slip to her friend. She tried to think of the right thing to say to Lemony, but she assumed that Lemony had had a similar conversation with Arlo as he quickly tried to change the subject.

"We'd better wake him," Lemony said, gesturing to Arlo. "The morning is already upon us, and our brothers will be wondering where we are."

* * *

Throughout the ten days that followed, the volunteers made trips to Blade Ridge every evening. Jacques seemed to spend most of his time keeping the camp in order or poring over the maps of the area with Klaus, but he made the trip to the ridge a couple of times during the week. Even Klaus spent one night on the ridge. But Violet and Arlo seemed to go almost every day, as if they had taken complete control of the reconnaissance side of the mission.

Over the course of the ten days, a clearer picture of their situation began to become apparent to them. They learnt that the castle was defended by ten people at most, although they were still more heavily armed than the volunteers. On a couple of occasions, Violet even saw Count Olaf himself, and became reaccustomed to his tall, scraggly look, his one long eyebrow and his shiny, shiny eyes. On the evening that Klaus joined Arlo and Lemony on the ridge, he saw one of Count Olaf's associates, the tall, bald man with a long nose, holding the same harpoon gun he had used to injure the Baudelaires' father. And on several evenings, Arlo noticed a tall woman who had become Olaf's most recent accomplice, and Lemony identified her as Esmé Squalor, the woman that he had helped Beatrice to steal the sugar bowl from all those years ago.

However, it seemed to these five volunteers that the Firestarters waiting inside Bladeridge Castle were perfectly intent to do just that. Every other day, they received one delivery from a man who came by motor car, driving into the castle to deliver some sort of parcel to Olaf and his associates. Lemony assumed that this delivery kept them stocked in vital supplies such as food and water, as none of them ever left the castle. But by the end of their second week at the castle, Lemony, Violet and Arlo (who were the most regular visitors to their spying spot on Blade Ridge) had noticed that these deliveries were coming far more frequently, often two or three a day.

"Something odd is going on," Lemony said to the group as they all sat down together outside the tents to eat dinner one night. "They're receiving far more deliveries than they were before. I think the Firestarters are up to something."

"My best guess," suggested Jacques. "Is that they are either expecting more visitors, which will make the castle harder to infiltrate, or they are going to move base, in which case it could take us moths to find them again."

"One thing is clear to me," Lemony concluded. "We've done enough research. We have to try and get into the castle, and quickly, before the Firestarters can act out whatever they're planning."

"But how are we going to do that?" Arlo asked.

"I've got no idea, Thursday," Lemony replied. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

"Well, Arlo and I infiltrated the Firestarter base in the northwest Hinterlands by using a grappling hook made of scrap metal from Jacques' helicopter and guy ropes from Arlo's tent," Violet explained. "But I doubt that would work here, as the walls are too high," Violet said disappointedly.

"You're probably right," Lemony agreed. "Any other ideas?"

"Surely you've read something about breaking into a castle?" Violet asked, looking at her brother Klaus.

"I've read a lot about various sieges," Klaus said. "But I doubt that'd help us, as we don't have a whole army. We're just five people."

"What's a siege?" Arlo asked.

"A siege," explained Lemony. "Is when an army tries to force its way into a castle. It either does this through violence or by surrounding the castle, preventing supplies from entering the castle, in an attempt to starve out the people inside, forcing a surrender."

"But we've only got five of us, so we can't surround the castle," Jacques said. "What methods have people used to break in, Klaus?"

"Most of them are violet," Klaus said. "In many sieges, soldiers try to scale the walls using ladders and grappling hooks, but we've already ruled that out."

"I'm sure we could build a ladder between us," Violet said. "There's plenty of wood around here, and I understand how to build ladders sturdily."

"But it'll take a long time to make a decent ladder with the tools that we have," Lemony explained. "We only have a few sharp knives, so it would take ages to craft all of the wood, even if I was a carpenter. We need a quick solution."

"In one siege several hundred years ago in England, the soldiers dug a tunnel underneath the castle walls, getting into the fortress from underneath."

"I don't know about going underneath the walls," Arlo added. "But we could definintely go over the top with them. "If we went up onto Blade Ridge, we could use mine and Violet's gliders to fly down into the base."

"But there's five of us," Klaus said. "And only two gliders. There's no way that they could take all of our weight."

"Have you got a better idea, then?" snapped Arlo, annoyed that his hang-glider theory had been so quickly turned down.

"Well, disguise has also been used as a way of infiltrating a castle over the years," Klaus added. "And I'm sure that's a far easier way of getting inside."

"You're right," Lemony said conclusively. "But what could we disguise ourselves as?"

"Well, there's the delivery men," Arlo said. "I'm sure that a couple of us could pose as delivery men. It's not always the same person going to the castle, so I'm sure that the Firestarters won't notice anything odd until we're inside if we have decent disguises."

"That's a very good idea, Thursday," Lemony said, smiling. "I suppose that I can sort out disguises for myself and Jacques within a couple of days."

"What about us?" Violet asked. "Aren't we coming?"

"No," Lemony said firmly. "There's usually only one or two delivery men, so if there's suddenly five, the Firestarters will suspect us. Plus, you're children - that's bound to give something away."

"And the fact that you're children means that you should be kept out of harm's way. You're lucky that you're a part of this mission in the first place, Baudelaires," Jacques added. "I suggest that you should stick to reconnaissance."

"Yes," Lemony continued. "The three of you can keep a look out for us from Blade Ridge when we attempt to infiltrate the castle. We have a pair of decent walkie-talkies, so we should be able to communicate over medium to long range. You can let us know if you see anything unusual.2

"Alright," said Violet, realising that as usual, Lemony had a good point. She could still play a part in helping to keep the Snickets safe as they try to rescue her family. "We'll provide help from Blade Ridge."

"Well, before we can do anything, we've got a lot of work to do," Lemony said, standing up. "Klaus, you can help my brother and I start work on our disguises. Thursday, take Violet with you up to Blade Ridge with you tonight. Just because we have a plan doesn't mean that we should stop our nightly missions."

Lemony paused for a moment, as though he was still thinking through some parts of the plan.

"Well," he said finally. "We'd better get a move on. We have plenty of work to do."

* * *

**(Serious) Author's Note: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Constructive criticism is accepted :)**


	10. Chapter Ten

**(Serious) Author's Note: Thanks to krikanalo for reviewing the last chapter! :)**

**I know that the first couple of paragraphs call back to a point raised by Lemony Snicket in 'The Ersatz Elevator', but hopefully it fits in to Violet's situation well enough to be used.**

**I hope that you all enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

Violet was nervous.

Well, Violet was partly nervous, and partly anxious.

You see, in my many years of conversing with hundreds and thousands of people around the world as I go about my unusual job, slaving away to chronicle the plight of the Baudelaires and those who knew them, I have noticed that many of the world's population are unable to distinguish between the words "nervous" and "anxious", and often use on in place of the other. On this particular evening in October, Violet was both nervous and anxious.

Violet was nervous - a word which means she was negatively anticipating a known event - because she was not looking forward to spending a night on Blade Ridge without an adult present. At the same time, the eldest Baudelaire child was also anxious - a word which describes a negative emotion caused by a fear of the unknown - as she was worried about what she might observe from the ridge last night, as she knew that if something extremely important occurred, then the Snickets wouldn't find out for many hours, which may cause a problem for the three men - and young men, I may add - back at the camp, who were busy planning their disguises.

But as the evening drew in and Violet and Arlo continued their climb, she could see in the twilight that little was going on in the castle. Hopefully, it would be an eventless night.

"Come on," Arlo said, noticing that Violet was slacking behind him as they reached the summit of the hill. "I'd like to be on the ridge before the sun sets." Violet knew that Arlo was exaggerating - the walk along the ridge was ten minutes long at most, and there was still a good half-hour of sunlight left in the day - but she still made an effort to quicken her walk, reaching the summit of the hill quickly.

"Nice view," Arlo said, looking back along the road away from the castle and into the woods as he waited for Violet to catch up. It was a clear evening, which had been a rarity since the volunteers' arrival, and Violet couldn't help but be amazed at the sight before her. The sky was lit in shades of purple and pink as the sun set over a sea of oranges and yellows caused by the autumn leaves. It seemed oddly peaceful,and that was when Violet noticed that the brutal winds that she had grown used to atop the hills was no longer an issue.

There had been a time not that long before when Violet had never quite understood why so many people spent time gazing at the sunset, although it was times like these that made her think otherwise. She could only think of one other time that she had felt the same childish sense of amazement, and that was in the Hinterlands that summer with Klaus on the day that the siblings last saw Sunny and their mother. Thinking back to that day, Violet knew that so much had changed in the three months since then, and for a moment she allowed herself to forget her troubles and feel like a young child again, staring out at the sunset. She almost forgot that she was looking down over the site of her family's imprisonment.

As Arlo beckoned Violet on, beginning the walk along Blade Ridge to their now routine spying spot, Violet allowed her mind to wander and think back to all the things that had happened to her over the course of that summer. Along with the rest of her family, she had been left homeless after a terrible fire destroyed the Baudelaire Mansion. After recent events, she presumed that the fire had been started by the villainous Firestarter separatist faction of V.F.D., although this had never been confirmed to her in the months since the tragic event. A good reason for this would be that so many other tragic events had occurred to Violet and her brother Klaus since then that nobody had had the time to sit them down properly and explain everything. Even now that they found themselves in the secret organisation best known as V.F.D., they found so much of their time to be taken up by training that they had no time for asking questions. And even so, many of the adults that she asked refused to tell her specific details. Maybe she was genuinely too young to be entrusted with such information, but it still didn't seem fair to Violet to keep her in the dark after everything that she had been through.

Of course, there had been some good times in the three months following the fire that destroyed the Baudelaire home, but they were few and far between. Even so, Violet looked back fondly on her brief time in the Verdant Valley, where she had first met Arlo. Since then she hadn't quite felt at peace, and although she had achieved a sense of belonging at the V.F.D. Headquarters in the Mortmain Mountains, she never looked back as fondly on those first few weeks with V.F.D. as she did her time in the Verdant Valley. Despite all that had happened to her, she found herself able to forget her worries in such an isolate place, with good company and a great capacity to entertain her inventing mind. And of course, there was Arlo.

Violet had loved those first few days with him, as much as any others that they had shared together in the months that followed, as the two were able to exercise their passion for inventing together. Violet had at one stage had a great many friends, but all of them had fallen by the wayside since the fire, but she found that she no longer minded when she was with Arlo, because he was a person who always seemed able to entertain her, either in conversation or with some idea that sprung from the back of his quick mind.

And so it was that when Violet and Arlo sat down together in their usual spot for their routine night-time activities that Violet began the conversation.

"Do you remember," Violet asked quietly, because she was scared that her voice might carry without the noise of the wind atop Blade Ridge that evening. "When Klaus and I first arrived at your home in Verdant Valley?"

"Yes and no," Arlo smiled. "From what I remember, I missed your arrival. I was out testing model gliders in the valley."

"That sounds about right," Violet replied. "I remember you running in on us when we were talking to your father."

"I try not to remember that," Arlo said, blushing slightly. "I think I came charging in from the valley, not knowing you were there. It was quite embarrassing, really."

"That sounds about right to me," Violet confirmed.

"Not the best first impression, eh?" Arlo joked.

"That didn't matter," Violet said. "At that time, it was your glider, not you, that had my attention."

"Once an inventor, always an inventor," Arlo said. "I was impressed when you knew what you were doing."

"So you doubted me for a while?" Violet asked.

"Well, no," Arlo said. "But I had no idea who you were at the time. I was pleased when I found out that we had something in common. My family tried to support my interest for inventing, but it's not the same unless they have a passion for it, too."

"I understand," Violet said, and she really did. "My parent always tried to be accommodating and help me whenever they could, but they always had their own interests elsewhere."

"Well, I guess it was good for both of us when we met, wasn't it?"

"I guess," Violet replied. "Although if you'd never have met me, you wouldn't have been dragged into so much trouble."

"Eh, well," Arlo said. "Life in the Verdant Valley was good, but it grew boring over time. I was glad of the change. After all, what's life without a little risk?"

Violet smiled as Arlo mentioned a phrase which at times seemed to be his personal philosophy. Of course, it wasn't always helpful to take a gamble, but Arlo always seemed to get a thrill out of it. Along with his distinguished looks and his passion for inventing, his penchant for risk-taking seemed to be one of his stand-out features, in Violet's eyes.

"So, you're glad we ended up in a helicopter crash?" Violet teased Arlo about one of his risk-taking ideas.

"Well, it was certainly a memorable experience," Arlo replied, laughing, which made Violet roll her eyes in mock annoyance. "I'm amazed you can put up with me at times," he added, seeing Violet's reaction.

"It seems strange to think that we've been through so much already," Violet said, "and we're not even full members of V.F.D. yet."

"From what I know, all members get a fair amount of experience from an early age. A couple of weeks back, I remember Lemony telling me about his many missions from his own apprenticeship. It sounds like he was dong things as dangerous as what we are at a far younger age."

"How young?" Violet asked.

"Twelve?" Arlo guessed, shrugging. "Maybe thirteen. Around Klaus' age."

Violet struggled to imagine Klaus performing dangerous tasks for the organisation at his age, but found it near impossible. Klaus was a researcher, not an operative; an agent.

"Lemony has certainly changed a lot, then," Violet said eventually.

"He's led a troubled life," Arlo said. "There are events in his past that many people would scarcely believe."

"Like what?" Violet asked, but Arlo merely shook his head.

"I don't think it is my place to say," Arlo replied. "After all, if our own parents won't let us know of their past, why should we know the past of a relative stranger? Of course, we know some of it, but I'm sure there are certain events that he wouldn't want anyone to know about."

"What do you mean when you say that our parents won't tell us?" Violet asked after a long pause. "Don't you know much about your family's past?"

"No," Arlo replied slowly, shaking his head. "Before my mum died, she might have tried to tell us, but I was too young to either care or understand," he said sadly. "But now that I am older, it seems like my father has drawn a line in his memories. He never speaks of anything that happened before she died, even when the event has nothing to do with my mother."

"It's the same with my parents," Violet admitted. "I imagine that if they were apprenticed in V.F.D. as I believe they were, they would probably have been in our shoes thirty years ago."

"That would seem likely," Arlo replied. "I know that both my parents were apprenticed in V.F.D., although sadly not much else."

After that, the conversation grew quiet for a moment as both teenagers sat on Blade Ridge, alone in their thoughts.

"Do you reckon," Arlo said slowly, breaking the silence. "That our parents first met each other on a mission like this?"

This question surprised Violet, firstly because she had never really given a second thought to her parents had met before, as she considered that to be something personal to them, and she was also surprised because of the way that Arlo asked the question. There was something in his tone of voice that made the question seem... loaded. As though there was an obvious answer, but also deeper meaning. What was Arlo implying. Violet looked across to Arlo but she saw that he had turned his face away from her, looking down towards Bladeridge Castle and beyond. Of course, Arlo was asking whether Bertrand and Beatrice had grown together through missions and hardships such as the ones that Violet had recently experienced herself. But to Violet, it felt as though Arlo was asking her whether _they_ would grow together on such a mission.

Glancing up Arlo again, Violet looked past Arlo the friend and saw a different Arlo for the first time. In the first light of the moon that night, Violet could see that Arlo was clearly very handsome, in a rugged, rogueish sort of way. She'd be the first to admit that he was a looker. On that night, there was something almost angelic about the way that the moonlight seemed to accentuate all the right features, his pale face half-covered by his scraggly black hair as he looked down over the valley. Past his looks, Arlo was genuinely a nice person, extroverted, active and generally amusing most of the time, but Violet knew that there was a sensitive side to the boy from the Verdant Valley. The boy who had felt so strongly about losing his mother when he first told Violet months ago in the Hinterlands, on a night not unlike that one on Blade Ridge.

And so as Violet looked across at Arlo in the moonlight on Blade Ridge that night, she realised for the first time that she wouldn't mind if Arlo and herself _did_ grow together, after all.

* * *

At this point in the narrative, I must inform you that it is imperative that I move the narrative forward from that night that Violet and Arlo shared on Blade Ridge, for a variety of reasons. One is that this chapter is nearly over, and we are yet to encounter Klaus Baudelaire and the Snicket siblings so far in the tenth chapter of _The Frightening Fortress_. The second, and arguably most important reason, is that with all the torrid events that occur to both Violet Baudelaire and Arlo Thursday during their teenage years, I am sure that both of them would appreciate it if I left some of their happier moments for themselves, and so I shall give Violet and Arlo privacy for the remainder of their night on Blade Ridge together. However, I shall leave you with the knowledge that the two trained volunteers were lucky that it was an eventless night, as they managed to complete very little of the task set for them by Lemony Snicket the evening before, and that both Violet and Arlo returned to camp the next morning feeling better than they had done for weeks.

I shall now pick up the narrative two days later, on a cloudy morning on which the Snicket brother's plan was ready for action. With Klaus' help, the two had managed to put together two uniforms, which made them look somewhere between a delivery man and a postman, as they wore black shoes, black trousers, a light blue shirt and a black cap, which had a long peak that they angled downwards, covering half of their faces and concealing their identities. All in all, it wasn't too different from the uniforms of the local postal service, but was equally close to the uniform of men working for parcel delivery companies. They each had a large black bag over one shoulder, and Lemony had a walkie-talkie stuffed into one of his trouser pockets. In case anything went wrong, even with the help of the three children who would be watching from above at Blade Ridge, both men were carrying small knives. They never intended to use them, but thought that they would serve as good deterrents if they were to run into trouble.

And so it was in this manner that Lemony and Jacques said their goodbyes to the three trainee volunteers as all five of them left their camp together; the two adults taking the dusty road to Bladeridge Castle, the three children taking the now well-worn route up the hill to Blade Ridge itself.

For the Snicket brothers, it was a short walk along the road, and found that they could walk right up to the drawbridge without even being questioned. They crossed the wooden drawbridge over the ditch in front of the castle walls cautiously, looking up at the fortifications. Once inside, the walls would have Lemony and Jacques penned inside. Looking past the walls, Lemony could see the darkening sky beyond. There was a storm coming, and it only gave the mission a sense of foreboding, as though nature itself knew that something was about to go horribly, catastrophically wrong.

At the far side of the drawbridge was the entrance to the castle through the gatehouse, and standing guard at the gates was a tall, bald man with a long nose, who was holding the same harpoon gun that he had used to injure Bertrand Baudelaire almost three months before. He was leaning against the walls of the gatehouse, fast asleep and snoring loudly.

"Excuse me," Jacques said cautiously, trying to wake the bald man carefully. Unfortunately, he was a light sleeper, a phrase which here means that he wake with a start, fumbling for his harpoon gun as he struggled to readjust to his surroundings.

"What do you want?" he barked grumpily, pointing his harpoon gun at both Jacques and Lemony in turn.

"We mean no harm, sir," Jacques continued apologetically. "We are here to deliver a package."

The bald man raised an eyebrow, but did not lower his harpoon gun. "You look different," he said suspiciously.

"I'm sure we do," Lemony said quickly. "We used to work as delivery people in the city, but we recently moved out here," he lied, showing far more confidence than Jacques that could only have come from a large amount of experience in disguising himself. "In fact, this is only our second day on our new round."

"Is that so?" the bald man asked, lowering his harpoon gun slightly.

"Yes," Lemony continued cautiously. "We've never even been here before," he lied.

"Alright," the bald man said, lowering his harpoon gun. "I believe you. What's this delivery, then?"

"It's for a Mr. Olaf," Jacques said, pulling out an empty cardboard box from his bag that Lemony had addressed to Olaf the previous evening. "Does he reside here?"

"Yes, he does," the bald man said, reaching for the box. "I'm sure I can see to it that he receives the package from here."

Jacques quickly moved the parcel from the bald man's reach, much to his surprise. "I'm sorry," Lemony explained. "But apparently the package is very valuable, although we don't know for sure. However, our boss told us to only give you the package if Mr. Olaf signed for it himself."

"Well then," the bald man said sternly. "That's not going to happen. The boss is busy at the moment, as he has some rather pressing matters in his line of delivery," the bald man explained.

"Well, I guess we'll have to return it to its sender, then," Jacques said disappointedly, putting the box back in his bag, and for the first time, he wasn't faking his emotions. They had been unable to infiltrate the castle. "Good-bye," Jacques said, and the two Snicket brothers turned to walk away, annoyed and frustrated at their failed plan.

But when they were half way across the wooden drawbridge, Lemony suddenly had an idea.

"The boss won't be pleased," he said to Jacques in a voice that he was sure the bald man with the long nose would overhear. "That thing," he said, gesturing to the package in Jacques bag, "has to go all the way back to the Mortmain Mountains!"

Jacques suddenly picked up on Lemony's idea, and replied in an equally loud voice. "I know, but-"

"Stop!"

The third voice was that of the bald man, and the Snicket brothers turned to see him hurrying across the drawbridge towards them. "Wait!" he added for no reason, as the Snickets had already stopped walking. "Did you say that the package was from the Mortmain Mountains?"

"Yes," Jacques said. "That's where it was posted from."

The bald man's expression suddenly changed as he continued speaking, far more excitedly. "This has all been a big misunderstanding," he said slightly nervously. "You'd better come in. Olaf is waiting."

* * *

**(Serious) Author's Note: This chapter seemed especially enjoyable to write, and so I hope it turns out to be especially enjoyable to read. If you did enjoy it, please let me know by review! As ever, constructive criticism is welcomed :)**


	11. Chapter Eleven

**(Serious) Author's Note: Thanks to krikanalo and Coral Tawnies for reviewing the last chapter! :)**

**This story is nearly over already... It doesn't feel like long ago that I started The Sinister Schism. Eh well, time flies when you're having fun :)**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

Klaus was anxious.

Along with Arlo and his sister, he had just left the Snickets behind as they began their journey up the hills towards Blade Ridge, along the path that Klaus had discovered himself when reading maps of the area nearly a fortnight before.

"We've got to keep the pace up today," Arlo said, striding on ahead on a journey that he'd made every day since his arrival at the castle. "Lemony and Jacques will want us in position by the time they arrive at the castle. Their journey is far shorter than our - look!" he exclaimed, pointing out the two men walking along the road to the Baudelaire siblings. "They're already half way there, and we're not even at the top of the hill."

"Run on ahead, then," Klaus suggested. "You and Violet might be used to this walk, but you're older than me, and you're used to more exercise. You've got the binoculars, anyway."

"Are you alright with that, Violet?" Arlo asked, and the eldest Baudelaire nodded.

"We'll catch you up," Violet said. "The mission comes first. I have to get Sunny and mother back, at all costs."

"I'll see you in a few minutes, then," Arlo said, and turned to start running up the hill, surprising both Baudelaires with the speed of his journey up the remainder of the hill.

"I guess we could try running," Klaus said, making sure that he had nothing loose in his pockets that he might use. "It's a cold, windy day, so I guess it'll keep us warm."

"There's no need to run," Violet replied with a tone of authority. "We'll only wear ourselves out. Arlo has everything covered."

"You've certainly got a lot of confidence in Arlo," Klaus said.

"He's been through more of this than us," Violet explained. "While we grew up in the city, he was out having adventures in the Verdant Valley. He's fit enough to run the whole way up here and still have the energy to play his part in the mission, unlike us."

"I hope so," Klaus said, staring up into the blackening cloudy sky. There was a storm coming, and he couldn't help but feel as though it was an omen, warning him of troubles to come. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Violet," he said nervously, and his sister put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Lemony and Jacques have been doing things like this for years," Violet said, trying to comfort her younger brother. "I'm sure that no harm will befall them."

I am sorry to say that Violet was wrong when she said that no harm would befall the Snicket siblings, but as Violet and Klaus arrived at the usual spot on Blade Ridge with Arlo, the Snicket brothers were still in the clear, a phrase which can be used here to explain how their disguises were still working perfectly as they conversed with the bald man with the long nose at the entrance to the castle. Atop the ridge, the three young volunteers had issues of their own, largely due to the weather, which had taken a distinct turn for the worse. The wind buffeted the three children mercilessly, which was less of a problem for Klaus than the others, as Violet and Arlo struggled to keep their long hair out of their eyes as they watched Lemony and Jacques continue their conversation with the man at the entrance. However, rain began to fall over Blade Ridge as they looked on, which was more of a problem for Klaus than the others, as unlike with Violet's and Arlo's coats, whoever had manufactured Klaus' had neglected to add a hood. This meant that while his hair might not have been in his eyes, it was indeed sopping wet, and Klaus couldn't decide which issue was worse.

But the three young volunteers saw the weather conditions as a trivial distraction from the serious business of rescuing Beatrice and Sunny Baudelaire, and the trio quickly learnt to ignore their hair-related problems as they watched Lemony and Jacques be granted entrance into the castle. Breathing a sigh of relief, Violet, Klaus and Arlo looked on intently, wondering what the Snicket siblings were going to do next.

* * *

As they walked through the gatehouse, Lemony and Jacques had their first chance to look at Bladeridge Castle close-up. Inside the courtyard, which was the central space between buildings that was covered in dusty ground, there were few buildings, as most of the buildings were the towers built in to the curtain wall around the fortress. There was the massive keep on one side of the courtyard, and two lower, smaller buildings on the other side, and it was towards these two small buildings that the bald man was leading the two disguised volunteers. Around the courtyard there was little of interest, aside form two motor cars and a couple of men walking slowly towards the gatehouse, who began to run as the rain started to fall.

"Many apologies for my hostile greeting earlier," the bad man said for what felt like the fiftieth time. "If I'd known what you were bringing for Mr. Olaf, then I'd have let you in much sooner."

"But we don't even know what was in the package," Jacques lied, knowing full well that the package was empty.

"That doesn't matter," the bald man said. "It's where the package was sent from that matters."

"There is one other thing that we do know, though," Lemony said, looking across at his brother with a small, secret smile, who seemed to understand his meaning. Jacques immediately glanced a look over towards the keep, and Lemony nodded.

"What's that, then?" the bald man asked.

"We lied," both Snicket brothers said in unison, and they dropped their bags and ran off into the castle.

* * *

"Something's happened," Arlo said nervously, looking down at the castle through the binoculars.

"What?" Violet asked.

"They've run for it," Arlo explained, and Violet and Klaus could see two small figures running through the rain; one towards the two small buildings that seemed to be for accommodation, the other running directly for the keep.

"I think they've been discovered," Klaus said slowly, wondering if their plans had all been for nothing. The rain was really starting to pick up on top of Blade Ridge that afternoon, as the storm hit Bladeridge Castle at full force, the winds threatening to throw the young volunteers down the steep slopes to their deaths.

"We have to do something," Arlo said determinedly, reaching for his walkie-talkie. "They're after you," he said into it. No reply. "Lemony?" he asked. No reply. "Lemony, you've been spotted. They know where you are." No reply. Frustratedly,he threw the walkie-talkie down on the ground next to him.

"Maybe the storm is interfering with the signal," Violet suggested, feeling worse and worse by the minute. Not only did the rescue mission seem to be a failure, she was now worried that the Snicket siblings would be unable to avoid capture, too.

"Do we have any way of helping them?" Klaus asked desperately, feeling worried.

"Just one," Arlo said, reaching deep into the large blue rucksack that he had brought with him to Blade Ridge. "Lemony would never allow it, but I've got the gliders with me. We can fly down into the castle and offer help."

What they would be able to offer to the Snicket brothers, Violet and Klaus weren't sure, but Arlo's idea was better than anything else that they could come up with.

"Will it be safe to fly in the storm?" Klaus asked nervously.

"It'll be a challenge, but we should be able to cope," Arlo said, constructing the first of two gliders, and giving it to Violet. "You'll be flying alone," Arlo told her. "I'll carry Klaus with me. I feel as though he'd rather be with the more experienced flyer," he added, to which Klaus nodded.

Having strapped herself in to her glider, Violet found it harder to keep her balance on the ridge with the glider threatening to take off due to the storm-force winds. Somehow she managed to help Arlo assemble his hand-glider, which was the one that had saved them at the Firestarter base in the northern Hinterlands that summer. Violet hoped that now she would be able to save somebody else with it.

Soon Arlo had strapped himself in to his own machine, and put both of his arms around Klaus, holding the middle Baudelaire sibling tightly to him. He could feel Klaus shaking, and knew that he was scared. Klaus had never flown before, and he had no idea what to expect. But he knew that Violet could manage it, and if his sister could, then he would cope, too.

"Brace yourself," Arlo told Klaus quietly, using a phrase which here means "prepare yourself for falling five hundred feet from a dangerous ridge into a castle occupied by our enemies in the middle of a storm," and it did nothing to help Klaus' nerves. "It's going to be a rough ride," Arlo added, and with that, he threw both of them over the edge.

Violet watched her friend and her brother disappear form sight, and only watched them for a couple of seconds before fear took over her, too. She'd only flown alone once before, a few weeks before at Mount Fraught, the highest peak in the Mortmain Mountains. Although this time her fall would be shorter, the storm made her nervous, and wondering if this was a good thing to do. But Arlo seemed to be coping well in the sky below her, even with the burden of Klaus hindering him slightly.

_This is no time for doubting, Violet, _the eldest Baudelaire told herself, and joined Arlo and Klaus in the stormy sky.

* * *

Klaus was terrified. Arlo flew the glider expertly, making sure that he did not lose control in the crazy air currents and torrential rain caused by the storm. Both of them were completely soaked as they soared towards the ground. However, despite Arlo's best efforts to keep the glider stable for the first-time flyer, Klaus still felt sick as Arlo's glider led them towards the castle, which was getting larger and larger every second.

However, Klaus' fear was nothing compared to that of his sister, who struggled to keep control of the glider as the gale-force winds sent her spinning one, two, three times on the way down. She'd been unable to contro her speed as well as the more experienced flyer she was following, and found herself near Arlo as they reached the height of the keep, only to see an frustrated Lemony Snicket looking through the torrential rain at the three young volunteers who landed in Bladeridge Castle near him.

Suddenly Arlo felt like this idea hadn't been such a good one, as Lemony confronted him.

"Thursday!" he said angrily, rushing for the door of the keep as he tried to keep on task. "What the hell are you playing at! This isn't part of the plan!"

"Sorry," Arlo replied, trying not to be angry at himself for undertaking a risky journey through a storm for no good reason. "We thought you were in trouble."

"Didn't you try the walkie-talkies?" Lemony snapped.

"Yes," Violet added, who had landed next to Arlo and Klaus, much to her relief. "I think the storm interfered with the signals."

"Really?" Lemony said, slightly less angry at this unnecessary interference than before, pulling his own walkie-talkie from his soaked trouser pocket. "Oh," he said quietly, staring at it. "I think it's broken. The water must have got in."

"We thought you were in trouble," Arlo said apologetically. "I'm sorry."

Upon hearing his apprentice's apology, Lemony softened further, and seemed to forget about the incident. "Well then," he said seriously. "We've still got a job to do. Everyone, follow me."

And with that, Lemony Snicket opened the door of the keep and ushered the three young volunteers inside.

* * *

**(Serious) Author's Note: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Constructive criticism is welcomed :)**


	12. Chapter Twelve

**(Serious) Author's Note: Thanks to Coral Tawnies and krikanalo for reviewing! The support is appreciated :)**

**Now that the 'OC' can be selected as a character for fanfics, I'm going to add that to the characters list for the story, which will now read 'Violet B., Klaus B., OC,' so that Arlo can get recognition as one of the major protagonists of 'The Frightening Fortress'.**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

Klaus was scared.

The keep at Bladeridge Castle was a tall, circular building, lined with thick stone walls. Inside, the four volunteers found the keep to be unpleasant, despite the fact that it sheltered them from the storm. The windows were small and the ceilings were low, so the building felt dark and dingy, as the only real light source was a few wooden torches burning on stands in the corners of the room.

In front of the volunteers was a corridor that seemed to run along the diameter of the building, with rooms leading to either side. To Lemony's right was a spiral staircase, that led both up and down, much to Violet's surprise, as they were on ground level.

"If mother and Sunny were being kept in here, where would they be?" Klaus asked quietly, worried that there might be some of Count Olaf's associates lurking around the keep.

"I'd guess down," Lemony said. "If there are dungeons, and it looks like they are, I assume Olaf will use them."

"Should we go and look, then?" Arlo said, as he heard the first crack of thunder boom outside.

"Yes," Lemony said. "Follow me, and stay quiet."

Normally, it would be difficult to stay quiet in the keep of a castle, as such buildings tend to have large, open rooms, and all sounds of movement would be amplified tenfold by the echoes. Luckily, the storm drowned out most of the noise as the four volunteers crept down the tight spiral staircase to the floor below. Lemony took the lead, followed by Klaus, Violet and finally Arlo. All four of them were both literally and figuratively in the dark as they descended the staircase, as there were no windows underground, and they had no idea what they were going to find at the bottom of the spiral staircase.

Lemony was the first to spread out into the room at the bottom of the stairs to find that it looked almost identical to the corridor on the floor above. The only difference was that he was not alone on the lowest floor of the keep.

"Lemony Snicket," said the man standing ten feet from Arlo's chaperone, and Lemony was worried for a moment, until he realised that he was no longer disguised, and that everyone knew his identity. The man who had said his name was indeed one of Count Olaf's comrades, although Arlo and the Baudelaires had never seen him before that stormy afternoon. He was moderately tall and had short brown hair, but the feature that stood out to the three young volunteers was that he had two hooks in the place of his hands, making him look very dangerous indeed.

"Fernald," Lemony said matter-of-factly, standing his ground. "It's been a few years, my friend."

"You shouldn't be here," the hook-handed man, Fernald, said. "Unless you're agreeing to Olaf's demands."

"You should know by now that I'll do nothing of the sort," Lemony said, signalling to the Baudelaires behind his back to make a dash down the corridor. "I'm here for Beatrice and her daughter."

"I guess some things never change, do they, Snicket?" Fernald said, smiling. "They're not here," he said dismissively, which Lemony regarded as an outright lie.

"You've certainly changed," Lemony said. "Once a noble volunteer, now a treacherous villain. You betrayed us when you let Anwhistle Aquatics burn."

"Betrayal?" Fernald scoffed. "You talk to me of betrayal, you and your oh-so-noble siblings! We've all done wrong in our life, Snicket."

"Your right," Lemony said, pulling out a knife from his pocket. "I've done wrong before, and I'll do it again if you don't tell me where Beatrice is!" Lemony held the knife out towards Fernald, who seemed intimidated for a moment, taking a step backwards before stiffening his resolve.

"After a fight, are we, Snicket?" Fernald taunted, although Violet couldn't see why he was so confident.

"Don't you remember what happened the last time?" Lemony replied, causing Fernald to look down at his hooks uncertainly.

"Years may have passed, but the memory never fades," Fernald said slowly. "And nor are you forgiven for your actions that day."

"And you're not forgiven of your actions that day, either," Lemony replied coldly. "Now, where is Beatrice?" he demanded, but Fernald had had enough.

"You don't deserve to know," he snarled, lunging at Lemony as their argument turned to violence.

You might have thought that Fernald would have learnt pay attention to all four of the intruders, but his attention was so sidetracked with Lemony that Violet, Klaus and Arlo weren't troubled as Lemony fled up the stairs of the keep, with the infuriated guard following him without hesitation, leaving the three young volunteers alone in the underground corridor.

The corridor was longer than they had first thought, extending far beyond the base of the building above them. There were at least ten doors on either side of the dark, damp corridor. Despite being underground, Violet could still hear the thunderclaps from the sky above as Arlo took his first few tentative steps to the first door on the left.

"It's locked," he said frustratedly, testing the handle before giving the door a good kick for good measure.

"You do know that you could use the keys, right?" Klaus said, reaching over to a hook on the wall near where Fernald had been standing, on which there hung a ring of keys, which he presumed would be for the doors of the rooms on either side of the corridor. Reaching up, he took the keys down from the wall carefully, and handed them to his sister.

"I guess the hook-handed man neglected to keep them on his person," Violet said, smiling as she walked to the first door. There was a lot of keys on the keyring, and it took at least six or seven attempts to rind the key that fit the first door, but eventually the thick wooden door unlocked and the three young volunteers pushed up open slowly. However, the room was small and square with thick stone walls, but was entirely unfurnished, and felt colder, darker and damper than the cold, dark, damp corridor that they had previously been standing in. Certainly, there was nobody in that small room.

"There's nobody here," Arlo said for no-one's benefit, a phrase which here means "stating a fact that both Violet and Klaus already knew."

"I think we should hurry up and try other doors," Violet said nervously. "Before Fernald comes back."

"Do you think Lemony is alright?" Arlo asked after Violet mentioned his chaperone's pursuer.

"Hopefully he is," Klaus said. "But it doesn't matter to us now. What matters now is that we have the keys, and mother and Sunny could be in any of the rooms in this corridor."

"Right," Violet said, smiling. She finally felt as though her family could be reunited again, maybe even within a few more minutes. "Let's get to work," she said, taking the keys from the metal lock of the first door and hurrying along the corridor to find the next door, desperately trying every key in the lock.

* * *

Beatrice Baudelaire woke from another fitful sleep to the sound of raised voices outside. It was hard to hear what was being said, as there were the sounds of a thunderstorm from above ground. She thought that she heard the muffled voice of one of her captors, Fernald, through the thick oak door of her cell, but she couldn't make out a word that he was saying. She sat up slowly from her bunk that she had lay on, no longer knowing what time of day it was. It had been months since she had last seen the sun. She struggled to push her long scraggly hair from her face, looking around for Sunny, who was fast asleep on her bale of hay, despite the storm outside.

Confused, she wondered what was going on outside of her cell as the loud voices disappeared, replaced with the scuffles of frantic movement, which soon faded away to echoes. Beatrice stood up from her bench and knelt down next to Sunny, trying to coax her from her slumber as hushed voices sprung up further along the corridor, along with the rattling of keys.

_Could this be the rescue that she had dreamed of?_

Olaf had told her his plan; she was a bargaining tool to be used with the volunteers. If they wanted her back, they would have to part with the sugar bowl. It didn't really surprise her that the volunteers had taken long to act, but nor did it surprise her that when the volunteers finally made their decision, the council would've voted for a rescue mission instead of relinquishing the sugar bowl to the Firestarters.

"Sunny," Beatrice said softly, trying to wake her youngest child slowly, when the sounds of footsteps getting nearer was enough to wake the youngest Baudelaire anyway.

"Tired," Sunny said, rubbing her eyes with her tiny hands as she stared around the room that she was in, which looked exactly the same as it had done when she had last seen it, a few hours before. Beatrice smiled down at her daughter, who looked up at her, confused. In the moths since their capture that day at the Stricken Stream, Sunny had grown up quite a bit. Beatrice only realised it at certain times, such as when Sunny was talking. More and more, Sunny had been making comments that she had actually understood. In those last few months at the Baudelaire Mansion, Beatrice had to ask for the help of her older siblings to understand what Sunny was talking about, most of the time. But now, here at Bladeridge Castle, she felt as though she could connect better with her youngest daughter, who was making her transition out of infancy.

It made her sad to think that the rest of her family had missed some of the important landmarks in Sunny's growing up. There would be no going back for the two-year-old Baudelaire.

Beatrice's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sounds of someone desperately trying to get into her cell, and she could her the fumbling sound of someone trying to hurriedly fit a key into a lock. She could remember days of her youth where she had stood in such a position herself, and was glad that it was no longer her turn to be under such pressure. Sure enough, she heard the figure - an unrecognisable male voice - swear in frustration as he struggled with key after key. Reaching down to pick up Sunny, the two Baudelaires sat together on the hard wooden bunk on the opposite side of the dimly-lit room to the door, waiting silently for whoever was trying to get into their cell.

Eventually, a key slipped into the lock that seemed to work, and Beatrice heard the tell-tale _clunk!_ as the lock slid open. The door creaked on its hinges as it swung open slightly, enough for a head to peer round the door into the cell. Beatrice had never seen the person who peered around the door to her cell before, although it had been almost two decades since her last involvement in V.F.D., and this person didn't look two decades old. It was a boy, or young man, of around fifteen or sixteen years of age, with long, unruly black hair that seemed in worse condition than her own, with a pair of sea green eyes staring out at her from through the mess. Beatrice couldn't help noticing that he was absolutely soaked. He wasn't exactly what she was expecting for her rescue party, but he seemed pleased to see her nonetheless.

"Mrs. Baudelaire?" he asked, whoever he was, excitement evident in his voice.

"Hooyu?" Sunny asked, just as confused as her mother, but she didn't have to wait long for an answer.

"Sunny!" another voice called, and this one was immediately known to both Baudelaires in the room. Sure enough, Violet Baudelaire's face appeared round the door, looking just as drenched as the boy next to her, and smiling just as brightly.

"Violet!" Beatrice exclaimed, too shocked to tell whether she was happy or alarmed that her daughter was a part of the rescue team. "What are you doing here?"

"There's no time to explain," she said, opening the door fully and stepping into the dingy room that had held her mother and sister for so long. They were looking thin, weathered and hungry, but they were family, and Violet knew that everything was going to be alright. "We need to leave, and quickly," Violet said, taking her mother's hand and leading Beatrice and Sunny out of the corridor.

Outside, Beatrice could see that Violet and her accomplice had not been alone in their endeavours, as she was reunited with her joyous son, Klaus.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, asking the same question that she asked Violet.

"There's no time to explain," Klaus said, giving the same answer as his sister.

"You can explain on the way," their long-haired accomplice said, and Beatrice realised for the firs time that there were no adults on the rescue team. "We need to get moving," he said.

"Where are the adults?" Beatrice asked, feeling anxious.

"Let's say that they're preoccupied," her children's accomplice said. "We'll meet up with them outside. Now, let's go."

Violet took her mother's hand and led her down the corridor towards the staircase, with Klaus carrying Sunny and Arlo running on ahead, as the Baudelaire children were now accustomed to him doing. Hew never seemed to run out of energy. As the five of them approached the foot of the stairs, they saw a shadowy figure coming down the other way towards them. Violet, Klaus and Arlo paused for a moment, fearing it to Fernald, but soon sighed with relief when they saw the figure walking towards them, despite the weary look on his face and the bloodied knife in his hands.

"Lemony?" Beatrice asked, for even the Baudelaire mother knew the person who met them at the bottom of the staircase.

"Beatrice?" Lemony said, although I'm not entirely sure to this day why he was asking, as he already knew who the woman holding hands with Violet was.

"Let's keep moving," Arlo said firmly, ushering his chaperone back up the stairs quickly, before another conversation began. Usually it would be unwise to order about your chaperone, a mistake I learnt about very quickly in my own apprenticeship, but it can be acceptable in some circumstances, and it turned out that this was one of them. Lemony didn't complain at Arlo's demand, and turned heel, walking back up the staircase that he had just come down. He knew as well as anyone that speed was of the essence for a successful escape from the frightening fortress that the volunteers found themselves in.

"We'd better be careful outside," Lemony said as he reached the exit of the keep, gesturing to the other to follow him outside. Nobody questioned him, and he slowly pushed open the door and stepped out into the storm.

* * *

In all the time that had passed inside the keep, the volunteers were sure that their adversaries - a word which here means "Count Olaf and his associates" - would have prepared themselves for the emergence of the volunteers from the keep, but all six of them were shocked at what they saw when they stepped out into the muddy courtyard.

Standing twenty yards from them was the villainous Count Olaf, who seemed absolutely livid, and the Baudelaires did not need to guess why. Behind him stood two of his associates, the bald man with the long nose who Lemony had duped earlier, and another person that none of the Baudelaire children had seen before. This person was extremely large and extremely fat, and all of the volunteers found it difficult to tell whether this person was a man or a woman. But regardless of that person's gender, the two associates were not what grabbed the attention of the volunteers. What grabbed their attention was the person that they were holding.

Within the grasps of the villains was poor, unfortunate Jacques Snicket.

"Haha!" laughed Count Olaf cruelly as he saw the volunteers step out into the storm. "You thought you could get away with your cunning disguises, but we found you out!"

"You reveal our disguises," Lemony said, looking down at his sodden delivery man's disguise. "We revealed ourselves."

"That's not how I heard it," Olaf said, glancing back at the bald man with the long nose, who shrugged uncertainly. "The small details don't matter, anyway. What does matter is that you volunteers thought that you could deceive me and get away without the Baudelaires without giving me the sugar bowl! If you hand the sugar bowl over, then I'll let your brother go, and all of you can be on your way," he bargained.

"Never!" Beatrice called out, surprising Count Olaf, who raised his single eyebrow at the volunteers.

"'Never', I hear you say?" Olaf scoffed. "You're in no position to make demands, volunteers! Look at you! It's you, your kids and Snicket against us. Do you really think that you can win?"

"You're forgetting someone," Arlo said, stepping forwards to confront his enemies.

"Is that young Thursday?" Count Olaf laughed. "Last time I saw you, you were just a toddler! Your mother-"

"Don't you dare bring my mother into this!" Arlo interrupted, angrier than Violet had ever heard him.

"I could tell you things about your mother that would make your blood boil, kid!" Olaf snapped, but Arlo was too angry. He charged at the villain, who struck out at him, sending Arlo flying into the mud. Suddenly appearing calmer and more sinister, Count Olaf returned his attention to the volunteers.

"I need the sugar bowl, volunteers," Olaf demanded. "Or Jacques here has to pay the price!"

"No!" Violet and Klaus cried out in unison, but Lemony remained calm.

"We don't have the sugar bowl, Olaf," he admitted slowly.

"Well then, it'll have to be Beatrice and her daughter!" Olaf grinned. "No sugar bowl, no Baudelaires!"

"But-"

"No buts!" Count Olaf interrupted. "I want Beatrice and Sunny before I count to ten, or Jacques gets it!" he added threateningly, revealing the harpoon gun that he must have taken from his bald accomplice, and pointing it at Jacques Snicket, who had nowhere to run. "_One!_" Olaf added dramatically.

Lemony was stuck. He had to save his brother, but he didn't want to admit that two months of work had been for nothing. Standing in the courtyard of Bladeridge Castle, he was faced with a dilemma.

"_Two!_"

Another bolt of lightning struck overhead as Violet and Klaus looked at each other uncertainly, not knowing what to do. But they had to do something, or another unfortunate event would occur in their life.

"_Three!_" Count Olaf called out loudly, so that it could be heard over the sound of the torrential rain, and the two elder Baudelaire siblings started walking slowly towards the villain holding the harpoon gun. They noticed that that there was only one harpoon left in the deadly device, for although they did not know it, the rest of the harpoons had been fired at their gliders when they descended into the castle earlier in the afternoon, although none of the harpoons had gotten anywhere near their targets.

"_Four_!"

"You don't have to do this, Olaf," Klaus said nervously, continuing to walk towards the deadly weapon.

"Yes, I do," Count Olaf grinned. "You aren't obeying my orders, so punishment is deserved! _Five_!"

Arlo pulled himself up from the ground and stood next to Violet and Klaus as they walked right up to the notorious villain. He was certain that the three of them could overpower him, but none of them dared to make the first move.

"_Six_!" Olaf said, staring at Violet, Klaus and Arlo in turn with his shiny, shiny eyes, which looked as though he was telling a very amusing joke, rather than aiming a deadly weapon at a helpless man. Behind the three young volunteers, Lemony had begun to move towards Count Olaf with Beatrice and Sunny, and this gave the Baudelaire siblings courage, as Violet rested her hand on the cold, wet metal of the harpoon gun.

"_Seven_!" Count Olaf snarled, glaring at Violet. "Don't tempt me," Olaf threatened, increasing the pressure on the trigger.

"_Eight!_" Count Olaf called out, but he never got to nine. In even the most unfortunate of lives, there are often one or two strokes of luck, even if they come in disguise, and it was at this point that the three Baudelaire siblings received one such stroke of luck.

Suddenly there was a massive_ bang!_ as lightning struck against the top of the keep, blinding everyone momentarily and causing chaos in the courtyard. The two accomplices of Olaf let go of Jacques, trying to reach Beatrice and Sunny. They charged through Violet, Klaus and Arlo, knocking the three children to the floor, covering them in mud. Lemony dived at Count Olaf, desperate to stop the wicked villain from firing a harpoon at his elder brother. But Beatrice and Sunny had nowhere to go when Olaf's two associates reached them, and with all of their allies having issues of their own, there was nobody to stop them from being dragged to a large, black car that was waiting nearby, and being thrown onto the back seats.

"Mother!" Violet called from the floor, but nobody heard her.

"Sunny!" Klaus cried, and although a few people did hear him, everyone else was too busy with other matters to care.

But _everyone_ heard Lemony cry out, and turned to look at him on the floor, staring in horror and disbelief between the arrogant grin on Count Olaf's face to the harpoon embedded in Jacques Snicket's stomach.

"Jacques!" Lemony cried, heaving himself off of Count Olaf to see Beatrice and Sunny trapped in the back of Count Olaf's car. Momentarily he was distracted with saving the Baudelaires' mother, and he sprinted towards the long, black car. Olaf, however, had other ideas, grabbing Lemony's ankle, causing him to fall, before standing up himself.

"So long, volunteers!" he laughed wickedly before dashing to his car, flinging open the door and getting into the driving seat.

"No!" Lemony cried. "Get out!" he said frantically, grabbing Olaf's arm, trying to pull him from the vehicle, but Olaf kicked him in the stomach, slammed the door, and put his foot on the accelerator. To his credit, the youngest Snicket sibling was not one for giving up easily, and he ran after the car as it made its getaway, struggling to find a purchase on the muddy ground. Only once the car drove through the gatehouse and gained traction from the wooden surface of the drawbridge did Lemony admit that all was lost, crying out in desperation.

"Beatrice!" he cried, throwing his trilby hat onto the ground next to him in anger. If you had been able to see Lemony at that time, you wouldn't be able to tell if he was crying of if it was just the rain, although I suspect that it was the former of the two suggestions.

"Beatrice!" he called again at the black car that was disappearing along the muddy road into the thunderstorm, but Count Olaf's car was already moving quickly in an aberrant - the word "aberrant" here means "very, very wrong, and causing much grief" - direction.

* * *

**(Serious) Author's Note: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Constructive criticism is welcomed :)**

**P.S. There's only one chapter left in this story, and I hope for it to be completed by Wednesday, August 28th. I hope you're looking forward to reading the ending as much as I am looking forward to writing it :)**


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**(Serious) Author's Note: Thanks to krikanalo for reviewing! :)**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**

Violet was distraught.

She was stood behind Lemony on the drawbridge leading out of Bladeridge Castle, looking out into the stormy afternoon, and wondering where they could go to find her family now.

"She's gone," Lemony said quietly, to nobody in particular, although Violet was listening to him.

"We can try again," Violet said encouragingly, although she felt just as angry and upset as Lemony did.

"There's nothing we can do for her now," Lemony said pessimistically. "At least, not at the moment. We have to help Jacques," he said with a little more determination in his voice. Then he reached down to pick up his hat, walking inside the castle walls to where his injured brother lay.

As much as Lemony did not want to admit it, his older brother was past saving by the time he returned to him. Arlo and Klaus were doing their best to treat his wounds, using strips of Arlo's shirt as a makeshift bandage to stop the bloodflow from Jacques' stomach, but to no avail. They simply didn't have the medical equipment that they needed. It was a lost cause.

"Jacques!" Lemony cried, dropping to his knees in the mud beside his brother, grasping his hand desperately, as though if he let go, he would never see his brother again. Jacques seemed almost delirious, which could be considered a good thing if you hadn't seen his condition. The blood loss was getting to him. "We need to get you to a hospital," he said desperately, but Jacques shook is head.

"I'm past saving, Lemony," Jacques said grimly. "Surely you can see that."

"No, there's still time," Lemony insisted, but before he could say any more, Jacques reached up to his face with one hand and but a finger over his lips, and Lemony understood.

"My time is gone," Jacques continued. "I've offered myself to the cause, and this is a final sacrifice that I am willing to make."

"You don't have to do this," Lemony said, frantically trying to think of a way to save his sibling. "I'll bring the car, and we'll drive you to town, and there'll be a doctor, and-"

"I doubt he'll survive the journey," Arlo said truthfully. "Look how much blood he's losing," he continued, causing Lemony to stare into the growing pool of blood in horror.

"No," Lemony replied resolutely, although he no longer sounded certain. "We'll find a way."

"Listen to me," Jacques said in a voice far stronger than any of the volunteers had expected, and everyone paused for a moment to listen to the dying man's words.

"I've had my time," Jacques said, coughing. "There's no point worrying about me,Lemony. You have the Baudelaires to worry about now. Find Beatrice and Sunny, and rescue them once more." He looked up at the circle of people who sat around him, tears forming in all of their eyes. "Today, we didn't lose the battle. Today is a good day for V.F.D.," he laughed, until he was interrupted by a fit of coughing. "The Firestarters may have escaped and Beatrice may still be within their clutches, but we have gained more than we have lost. I've served my time, and I hope that I've served it well in the eyes of the powers that be, but you three-" he gestured at Violet, Klaus and Arlo "-are the future. Lemony, if I ask just one thing from you, make sure that no harm comes to these three children. Make sure that they are well-trained in the ways of the organisation, and that they lead V.F.D. to a brighter future."

"Of course," Lemony nodded, crying. "I promise."

"Good," Jacques said faintly, and Violet saw that he was also crying. She wondered if he was finally on the way out of the world as he lay quiet for a couple of minutes, before speaking up with one more request.

"Tell Dewey and Peter to continue my work," he told Lemony. "Our file is almost complete. Another six months and they will have enough evidence to alert the authorities and end the schism once and for all, in the name of all who are noble. I hope that Kit can continue the work in my place. I'm sure she will do a far better job of it than I ever did."

"I will," Lemony promised once more, gripping his brother's hand even tighter.

"I don't have long left," Jacques said sadly as the clouds finally parted, letting the weak autumn sunlight fall down into the courtyard at Bladeridge Castle. "May I just have a few moments, Lemony?" Jacques asked, coughing once more.

Lemony looked at the three children with tears in his eyes and he didn't have to say a word as Violet, Klaus and then Arlo all understood, leaving Lemony alone to say his final goodbyes to his brother.

* * *

"Hey."

"Oh, hey," Violet replied, smiling sadly, looking out along the lonely road. Arlo crept up behind her and put his arms around her from behind, resting his head on her shoulder.

"You alright?"

"I guess," Violet sighed sadly. She was standing on top of the gatehouse at Bladeridge Castle, watching the sun set over the woods that had concealed her home for the previous fortnight. Lemony had told her that he wanted to leave that evening, and put the whole experience behind him. But for that afternoon inside the deserted castle, Violet had managed to find somewhere peaceful, just for once.

"We're going straight back into the middle of things, aren't we?" she asked Arlo, who shrugged.

"I suppose so," he replied quietly, staring out at the view along with Violet. "The schism is far from over. The Firestarters may have escaped today, but there is still time to bring them to justice."

Violet paused for a moment, remembering that Jacques said that his work with Dewey Denouement and Peter Quagmire would be able to bring Olaf and his associates to justice. Was that the purpose of the Snicket File, that she remembered Klaus saying that the Firestarters were hunting for? She simply didn't know. There were still questions to be answered.

"I feel as though this whole thing has been for nothing," Violet said, speaking her thoughts aloud for the first time. " We didn't rescue mother and Sunny, and now Jacques is dead." Violet remembered watching Lemony taking the time to bury his brother in the woods that afternoon, desperate to put any memories of this place behind him.

"Maybe we couldn't help your family, but we helped ourselves," Arlo said optimistically. "We've become better volunteers. We will learn from our mistakes, and start over with better plans and better support, and we'll get them back somehow. I promise," he said, and kissed Violet on the cheek.

"I don't know, Arlo," Violet sighed, still staring out at the view. "It feels as though we're back to square one," she said glumly, and it was true.

And it was true. Despite all the effort that they had put in in the last few weeks to make life take a turn for the better, they had found this chapter of their lives to be just as unfortunate as the one before it. And so as Violet Baudelaire and Arlo Thursday stood together watching the sunset on that October evening, Violet knew that she was back in the same situation that she had begun this chapter of her life with, and wasn't sure if she had enough energy left to start over again.

* * *

_(Fictional) Author's Note:_

_Dear Gamemaker97, _

_I am writing to you from a café in the city, not far from the site of the Quagmire Mansion, where I have learnt of the adversity faced by the members of V.F.D. - and in particular the Baudelaires - in the next unfortunate chapter of their lives after the dangers of the mission to Bladeridge Castle._

_I understand that you experienced difficulties with my covert attempts to send my last manuscript to you, and so this time, I propose a simpler arrangement. Arrive at my house in the city on Thursday morning before noon, where I will have left a large parcel in brown wrapping behind the second largest shrub in the front garden. Inside, you will find the manuscript detailing the travails of the Baudelaire children in the weeks that followed the death of Jacques Snicket. Entitled THE INESCAPABLE INFERNO, this draft is not for the faint of heart. I suggest that you spend as little time comprehending the manuscript as possibly as you spend your evenings typing up the grim tale for all to hear. It does not do the heart or mind good to trouble oneself with such upsetting circumstances as those within the pages of my third tale._

_Along with the manuscript, you will find an assortments of items which I wish to be passed on to my illustrator, Mr. Harper, to help him with his illustrations should a publisher ever take up my offer of printing this tale for sale to the general public. You will find, among other things, a bag used as part of a disguise by the nefarious Count Olaf, a photograph of the three Quagmire triplets (although, in the photograph, they were a few years younger than when they first met the Baudelaires) and Lemony Snicket's commonplace book, which has proved itself to be most valuable in my research._

_Remember, as my search for a publisher remains to be fruitless, you are my only hope that the desperate and unfortunate plight of the Baudelaire children is told to the general public._

_With all due respect,_

_A.T._

* * *

**(Serious) Author's Note: And so ends 'The Frightening Fortress'! I hope that you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to review and let me know exactly what you think of this short story. I'm always open to criticism :)**

**I can now confirm this this story is the second of seven in a series that I shall call _A Series of Alternate Events, _and I have the five remaining stories all planned, and hopefully you'll all find the next instalment, 'The Inescapable Inferno', to be just as good as these first two have been, if indeed you have enjoyed them.**

**The school term begins again tomorrow, so I doubt I'll be publishing the first chapter of the third story for a few days. It's all planned out, it's just a question of finding time to put pen to paper and get it uploaded.**

**Again, thanks for following the series so far, I really appreciate the support :)**

**GM97 :)**


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